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Fall Protection

At vertical drops of more than 2 metres according to directive AFS 1993:3, an approved fall protection measure must be present. Fall protection may be a guardrail or an anchored personal fall protection device.

At low roof pitches, 6 degrees or less, and at vertical drops of more than 2 metres, the roof must have devices that offer a means of being anchored when one is closer than 2 metres from the edge of the roof, unless permanent or temporary guardrails are in place.

On roof pitches of more than 6 degrees, one must always be anchored when on the roof if the vertical drop is more than 2 metres high, unless permanent or temporary guardrails are in place.

There is an exception when first installing an anchoring device or when on one occasion one goes up to the ridge or device to anchor oneself, if the vertical drop is no more than 7 metres. If there are means of anchoring oneself along the access route, these should always be used.

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Fall protection requirements

Standards for permanent guardrails on roofs have not yet been established. They are currently being developed. In the meantime, selected portions of the standards for permanent guardrails within industry and temporary guardrails in the construction industry are used.

When approving anchoring points for personal fall protection, these are subjected to dynamic tests with a weight of 100 kg falling vertically from 2.5 without coming loose from the roof, and static tests of 1000 kg hanging freely for 3 minutes.

Remember that

In order to avoid the pendulum effect when falling from the outer corners of the roof, where the roof slopes less than 27%, and extra anchoring is needed at anchoring points located approximately 2 m in from the roof foot/roof edge.

Anchoring at the ridge must not be done closer than 2 metres from the gable. For example, dragline or rail systems must terminate 2 metres in from the edge of the gable.