Edge Protection – Fairlight Edge Rail Project

This month Stronghold Hire were asked to provide edge protection for the install of roof tiles at a project in Fairlight.

Residential Edge Protection

The project was two-storey residential. For most of our residential projects, we use the EBR residential bracket. This type of bracket uses pressure on the underside of the eaves/soffit to create an obstruction-free, safe work area for the roof tradesmen. However, the design of the project would not allow us to do this so we had to adapt and try another method.

Commercial Brackets Needed

The roof of the building is finished flush with the façade. The roof also had three gables and a single-storey structure to contend with. After some discussion with the builder and advice on different options, it was decided that the commercial bracket would be perfect for this install. The commercial bracket is simply anchored to timber, concrete or metal using the recommended fasteners. The builder also stressed that the roof would be completed before completing the façade work so the brackets would not be interfering with their program.

Fully Qualified Scaffolders

Our installers are all qualified scaffolders who are trained and certified with ‘Working at Heights’ tickets. Although we used fall arrest equipment for most of the install, around 90% of the work was completed behind the timber structure of the building. Our installers used a small 1m high mobile scaffold, which was just placed on the first-floor deck giving them two layers of protection with scaffold handrails and the framework itself.

Edge Protection Teamwork

Working in pairs, one scaffolder held the bracket in place whilst the other set the timber anchors using a small battery-operated impact driver. Most of the tubes were also placed from inside the structure using the revolutionary rail raisers. A rail raiser is a tool that allows tubes to be placed from the floor or in this case from the ground floor of the building to minimise the amount of time that the scaffolders need fall arrest equipment. Most of the tubes are already in place, providing safe fall protection before they access the roof to secure the couplers.

Down In Half The Time

The dismantling was a little different due to the roof being installed, however, this did not present a problem to our experienced scaffolders, as usual, it took around half of the time to dismantle as it did to install. A small scaffold tower was given as safe access to the roof, we also used this tower to speed up the dismantle process!

Edge Protection Sydney

If you want to use edge protection on your next project, get in touch with us today and we would be more than happy to help.