Strata WorkSafeBC Safety

Roofing safety is extremely important to us and it is extremely important to Strata WorkSafeBC Safety. As a strata, liabilities associated with the hiring of maintenance contractors to perform work from locations on roofs, such as window cleaning over roof system, gutter cleaning, roof or otherwise maintenance etc. are becoming of greater concern. In times past, simply ensuring that a contractor was registered as an employer with the board was adequate to ensure that the Strata and the council members’ personal liabilities were addressed. This is no longer the case, and going forward such concerns will certainly become a more critical issue.  Through appropriate due diligence steps and education, Roof Tech keeps you informed and protected with a low cost solution.

Fall Protection Program

Roofs are dangerous, sloped roofs are even more dangerous, and typically the height from which a fall may occur is of 3m (10ft) or more. Thus a fall protection system must be in place. This is especially true for strata and multifamily structures. These buildings are often not served by the existing safety industry, which focuses on institutional and concrete high rise structures, which require far more robust systems.

Existing programs for multifamily structures are focused on maintaining minimum compliance and mitigation of fines that may be brought against the contractor. Evaluation of these programs reveals that they provided very little to ensure the owners of the structure are properly protected, and often are designed to deflect liability either towards the worker or the owners of the structure.

Tasked with protecting our clients’ interests, Roof Tech has developed a program solely focused on protecting the building owners and is flexible enough to be customized, while remaining within the typical budgetary restrictions of most Strata Corporations.

Roof Tech strives to ensure that all our clients are performing their due diligence. We will create a Fall Protection Plan and System using engineering and administrative controls to ensure your strata is up to protocol right from the get go. Engineering? Roof Tech will install the appropriate equipment to secure the roof top and the workers on it. Administrative? Having your plan implemented by a certified professional will allow us to monitor the access to your roof and ensure that all safety requirements are met before any project has begun. Not only can your Strata to rest assured that workers are safe on your premises, but you can also know that you are protected from the potential penalties and fines associated with the lack of a fall protection plan.

A Fall Protection Program from Roof Tech provides:

  • Due Diligence Assessment/Site Evaluation
  • Custom Program Development
  • Equipment Installation: LifeLine Anchors
  • Program Operation/Inspections

Due Diligence Assessment

Roof Tech Consultants is an expert in due diligence assessment, mitigation and implementation. Not only do we do our due diligence, but we ensure that our clients are taking all precautions that are reasonable in the circumstances so that you can ensure the health and safety of those performing work.

Due diligence simply means taking all reasonable care to protect the well-being of those involved in a project. Not only does WorkSafeBC recognize due diligence as the best defence, but it will limit action or not take it at all against employers, individuals and workers who are considered to have acted in due diligence. Roof Tech is an expert at educating our clients and providing them with the necessary tools and steps to become protected.

Roof Tech offers a Due Diligence Assessment, a unique program designed to investigate your current due diligence methods, equipment, documentation, safety plans and programs, historical records and past contractor clearance. Often we discover that Fall Protection is limited or non-existent both in engineering and administration. Roof Tech is an expert at educating, we will provide an initial review of applicable regulations and Occupational Health and Safety requirements that our client needs to be aware of. We ensure that your Strata is protected from potential liabilities and penalties associated with negligence and being unaware of workplace safety.

Penalties and Fines

Many of our Strata clients and their Council are unaware and undereducated on the responsibilities around workplace safety that the Strata may be held liable for. Not only do these liabilities place strain on individuals in decision making positions, but the penalties and fines that could possibly be levied affect all the owners in the Strata.

What are the potential financial consequences? They generally range in the thousands but as per WorkSafeBC limitations they can stretch into the hundreds of thousands and just over a million on a subsequent conviction. In cases of extreme negligence an individual could be held criminally liable and face imprisonment. While these general convictions are spread thin as safety standards improve, administrative penalties are in full swing in order to ensure improvements are underway for a safer work environment. Again these fines vary from the thousands to hundreds of thousands.

Roof Tech is here to relieve the strain and worries of having an effective workplace Safety Plan when working on your roof, in order to ensure your Strata is taking all the necessary steps to protect against penalties and fines. Not only will we create and monitor the Safety Plan for your Strata, we will also educate everyone on their responsibilities in order for the entire team to best serve the Strata Corporation.

Remember, the Strata Corporation is a legal entity, it can be sued and the failure to observe the provisions of the Worker’s Compensation Act or Regulations or any order of WorkSafeBC may be evidence used against the Strata Corporation in a lawsuit from injury to a person.

Maintenance and Gutter Cleaning

If you are part of a Strata, you are more than likely in a building where are a fall from 7.5m (25ft) can occur. Did you know that in order to even access the roof on a temporary basis, there must be a written Fall Protection Plan in place? Not only in place, but fully active, monitored and implemented by a certified professional.

Gutter cleaning and window cleaning both require access to the roof as you exceed the heights of standard ladders. Once the roof is accessed this is where safety concerns beyond ladder safety arise. As the owner of a workplace, you must maintain the land and premise of the workplace in a manner that ensures the health and safety of persons at or near the workplace. Not only does the Council have the responsibility for health and safety, but so do the owners as the owners of the Strata lots are the members of the Strata Corporation. Therefore, in order to avoid the penalties and fines associated with these liabilities one must act diligently.

Yes, that means if your Strata Corporation is looking to have gutter cleaning and window cleaning this year, performing due diligence beforehand would require an existing safety plan prior to the services being performed. Luckily we at Roof Tech are here to help. We will cover all the bases and you the Strata Council member, or Owner can rest assured that safety is the number one priority on all projects, big and small.

Roof Tech has made the Fall Protection Program available to new and existing clients. We invite you to Contact Us for more information.