Are you aware that if you are a property owner, health and safety or facilities manager, or anyone else in control of the work on roofs, it is your responsibility to make sure appropriate safety measures are put in place to enable work at height be carried out safely?
If your property is one where regular access to the roof is a necessity, collective fall protection systems such as roof top guardrails, should be installed. Collective measures are preferred as they prevent several people from falling at the same time and do not require specific user knowledge, which means training and supervision is not essential.
Roof top guardrails are a popular, preferred collective fall protection solution for preventing falls from hazards at roof edges. In this article, we look at why KEEGUARD is the popular choice for building custodians, installers and maintenance staff worldwide.
KeeGuard Roof Top Guardrails
For anyone who specifies or requires fall protection, including building owners, facilities managers, architects, designers or contractors, a compliant, tested, widely used, continuous, adaptable system for multiple roof types and scenarios is essential.
KEEGUARD roof edge protection is designed, tested and installed to international standards including British and European regulations, OSHA, ANSI and Canadian standards.
KEEGUARD systems are used throughout the world. Since the launch in the 1990’s KEEGUARD roof top guardrails have been continually refined and developed to introduce new features such as the use of recycled PVC counterweights and to comply with the latest National Standards.
Quick and Easy to Install System
Specifiers may not pay too much attention to how quick and how easy a system is to install, but quick and easy system passes on savings in regard to labour cost and a system that is modular, within manual handling requirements means that installation is safer and lifting equipment doesn’t always need to be provided to access a roof.
For installation staff, whether that be a specialist provider or a company’s own facilities or maintenance team, the whole system is fitted using standard tools, requires no threading or bending and avoids the need for ‘hot works’ like welding. KEEGUARD uprights are supplied pre-assembled, our original ‘cup’ fitting means handrail is quickly dropped into place rather than feeding the tube through a closed fitting. Joints and changes in direction and level are easily achieved using the original KEE KLAMP slip on tube fitting, allowing easy accommodation of obstacles that weren’t expected or noticed during a site survey. The system can be easily modified, added to or repaired without affecting the high corrosion protection hot dip galvanising provides.
Users, such as maintenance staff, accessing the roof where KEEGUARD guardrails were installed, can be confident that a compliant, continuous, low maintenance, long term solution is in place.
Adaptable Collective Protection for Various Roof Types
KEEGUARD roof edge protection is available in a range of versions for different roof types, meaning on some sites a system can run around an entire site even where later building extensions have used different roof types or where plant and equipment means placement of traditional counterweighted guardrail wouldn’t be practical.
Below we look at the different versions of KEEGUARD, all which share the adaptability and configuration options and which compliments each other and the rest of the range of fall protection solutions available from Kee Safety.
Free Standing Roof Edge Protection
KEEGUARD - our original counterweighted, non-penetrative free standing system can be used on any type of flat roof up to a 10° slope. It is suitable for asphalt, bitumen felt and single ply membrane roofs. The system is based on a simple cantilevered design which provides unrivalled strength, stability and safety, and overcomes the problem of having to drill and puncture the roof membrane which can lead to potential water damage and noise disturbance during installation.
The system is supplied in prefabricated kit form with a minimum number of assemblies, which allows for ease of installation. Guardrails are galvanised inside and out to prevent corrosion even in the harshest conditions.
KEEGUARD roof top guardrails have been tested to EN 14122 Part 3, EN 13374 Class A and OSHA.
Roof Top Guardrails For Cladded Roofs
KEEGUARD Topfix provides collective roof edge protection specifically for metal profile and standing seam roofs up to 45°. Pitched cladded roofs have traditionally been protected using personal fall protection systems which are lower in the hierarchy of control ranking.
Our collective roof edge protection system features a base plate with multiple fixing centres which is fixed directly to the profile sheeting via rivets or non-penetrative two-part clamps. This unique plate design allows the system to be fitted to a wide range of profile sheet centres.
The plate also provides the support for the vertical standard leg which can be adjusted from 0° to 11°. The horizontal rails are then simply fitted to the open saddle fittings to provide a complete collective solution.
KEEGUARD Topfix roof top guardrails have been tested to EN 14122 Part 3, EN 13374 Class A and OSHA.
Edge Protection for Roofs with Limited Space
KEEGUARD Premium is a free standing system, which does not require counter weights along the full run of the system.
KEEGUARD Premium is often used where counterweights are unsuitable; for example, where solar panels are placed close to a roof edge or plant and equipment like ducting or HVAC units are in the way.
KEEGUARD Premium is fully tested to EN 14122 Part 3, EN 13374 Class A and OSHA.
Folding Roof Edge Protection
KEEGUARD Foldshied - our folding roof edge protection system is often specified where a roof guardrail is needed to be available to allow for maintenance, but would be preferred to be out of sight when not in use. This system is a counterweighted solution that allows for sections to be folded down.
The main feature of the system is the unique hinged base foot which enables the guardrail to be quickly and easily lifted into place when work is being carried out, and then simply folded back down again when the work is completed.
KEEGUARD Foldshield can be used on slopes up to 10° and is suitable for asphalt, concrete, mineral felt or PVC sheet covered roofs.
The system complies to EN 14122 Part 3, EN 13374 Class A and OSHA.
Aluminum Roof Top Guardrails
KEEGUARD Lite provides an aluminium safety solution for free standing roof edge protection The system is ideal for harsh environments due to its high corrosion resistance.
KEEGUARD Lite incorporates aluminium uprights and tube, and maintains its stability by using a steel base fitting, steel counterbalance arm and a 25Kg weight. As this is a free standing system, it does not require any physical fixing into the roof’s structure/membrane.
The system has been tested to EN 14122-3 and EN 13374 Class A.
Guardrail Kit for Ladder Access Points
KEEGUARD Ladder Kit is a 2-metre run of permanently fixed guardrail each side of an existing fixed ladder/cat ladder access point. The kit has been specifically designed to provide a “retro-fit” solution and incorporates a self-closing gate.
Fixing is quick and easy; the kit has been developed to simply clamp on to the existing ladder. The unique fitting which connects the guardrail to the ladder has been designed to clamp around both flat and tubular stringers with a maximum diameter/width of 75mm.
KEEGUARD Ladder Kit has been independently tested to EN 14122-3-4 and NF E85-003. The self closing gate is CE approved.
Have you got questions about KEEGUARD roof top guardrail?
Get in touch with our fall protection specialists. We can help you to decide which roof top guardrail is the right safety solution for your roof.
Contact us today to discuss your roof top guardrail project!