Safety Tips by Cotney
Indicators Your Company Needs To Improve Its Safety Culture
By John Kenney, Cotney Consulting Group. Avoid OSHA violations and keep crew members safe by improving your company's safety culture. As professional roofing contractors, we are always thinking about safety — yet our industry is still one of the most high-risk. OSHA statistics show seven of the top ten cited violations and ...
OSHA's Silica Standard Increases Costs and Adds Confusions for Roofing Contractors
By John Kenney, Cotney Consulting Group. Learn about some roofing contractors' traditionally used tools that expose their workers to silica and the practiced control methods to limit exposure. OSHA began enforcing the silica standard for the construction industry in September of 2017. The critical provision with the most significant impact on the ...
Rescue Planning as Part of Your Fall Protection
By John Kenney, Cotney Consulting Group. Learn more about the importance of fall protection rescue plans and how to implement them. Falls are among the most common workplace injuries in our industry year after year. Rescue plans are often overlooked as fall protection components, but rescue plans are necessary for Roofing Contractors. ...
Safety in Contracts
By John Kenney, Cotney Consulting Group. This article aims not to give legal advice but real-world information and guidelines on safety and health requirements in construction contracts and assist roofing contractors when reviewing the safety section of your contracts. Contracts are essential to the construction process and may be defined ...
The Economics of Safety
By John Kenney, Cotney Consulting Group. This article will look at the economic aspects of safety in roofing, including costs, benefits, return on investment (ROI), investment optimization, and evaluation. Although efforts have been made to improve safety, many barriers remain, and those influenced by economic considerations are particularly dominant. The dynamic characteristics ...
Promote Wellness in the Workplace
By John Kenney, Cotney Consulting Group. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages employers to engage their employees in health and wellness. By engaging in their own wellness, employees tend to work more productively, have less stress, and have a better quality of life. They benefit from a lower risk ...
Musculoskeletal Disorders Common in Roofing Industry
By John Kenney, Cotney Consulting Group. Learn about the most common musculoskeletal disorders in the construction industry and how to avoid them. Some 33% of all work-related injuries and illnesses in the construction industry are due to musculoskeletal disorders. These injuries involve repetitive movements and affect tendons, muscles, nerves, cartilage, joints, and ...
Safety Checklist for Roofing Work - Part Three
By John Kenney, Cotney Consulting Group. Ladders, scaffolding and emergency plans. In the second part of our safety checklist for roofing work, we reviewed OSHA safety standards for working around roof perimeters and openings. Stepladders and extension ladders are used on roofing project sites. Improper use of ladders poses ...
Safety Checklist for Roofing Work - Part Two
By John Kenney, Cotney Consulting Group. Guardrails, warning lines, and penetration openings. In the first part of our safety checklist for roofing work, we reviewed some OSHA safety standards for working on roofs. We covered basic roofing safety training requirements and OSHA requirements for fall protection equipment. Guardrails are ...
Safety Checklist for Roofing Work - Part One
By John Kenney, Cotney Consulting Group. When working on roofs, safety continues to be an ongoing issue that causes avoidable deaths. In the construction industry, heights are the leading cause of severe injury and death, and of the deaths, falls from rooftops constitute at least a third. Roofers ...
