Innovative Safety Program Provide Complete Safety Plan for Every Rooftop

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

New safety program helps building owners implement a successful safety program on their rooftops.

We love it when we find new, cool, innovative programs being offered in the roofing industry. So, when Weatherproofing Technologies Inc. (WTI), a division of Tremco, told us about their new safety program, we knew we wanted to share this news with our RCS audience.

Safety is a main concern in the roofing industry and according to Shari Carlozzi, WTI Safety Solutions Director, it’s a main focus for Tremco. So much so that they started a whole new safety program that helps building owners implement a successful safety program on their rooftops.

“Safety really is our main focus,” explained Shari. “It’s our mantra. Our goal is to have a safe work environment – safe for the employees, for our customers and for anyone who needs to be on that rooftop performing any kind of service.”

WTI is committed to leading with safety and has developed a program to reach out proactively to the property owners and maintenance people to provide a safety program for every rooftop.  WTI provides building owners with a complete assessment and recommendation on how to ensure that their rooftop is safe and in compliance with OSHA standards.

Shari’s joined the WTI team this year with the sole purpose of taking the company’s safety game one step further. They do a rooftop assessment and provide a safety solution presentation for the building owner to help them meet OSHA requirements. “Even after a roof is installed or serviced there are often maintenance crews or other trades that need access to the roof to perform routing services,” explained Shari. “My team is trained to be a manufacturer’s technical representative for the products that we sell. We use a line of products called Fibergrate, a fiberglass reinforced plastic with a special UV coating to ensure it withstands the harsh UV exposure on the roof.”

The Fibergrate line includes ladders, roof hatches, safety railings and more.  It’s an alternative to metal and doesn’t get hot to the touch after hours in the sun. They also evaluate and can provide fall protection, fall arrest systems, walkpads, and in addition, develop engineered solutions, working with structural engineers for anything that needs to be attached to the building or for anything that penetrates the roof or the walls.

“We are committed to creating a safe environment on the rooftop,” Shari said. “We work in a highly dangerous field. The number of injuries and deaths are increasing. We want to make sure that when someone comes to work in the morning, they go home in the same condition.”

“Many people don’t think about safety on the rooftop until something happens.  We help clients to abate OSHA issues. When people are walking on the roof, it’s important to have safe walkways with hazards clearly identified.”

The team has 10 safety solutions representatives across the country to serve customers coast to coast. Everyone on Shari’s safety team is an OSHA certified competent person for fall protection. “It’s an intense training and we look at Personal Protective Equipment as well as what’s on the roof,” explained Shari.

WTI’s program is a full turnkey operations program to provide solutions for building owners and property management companies to make sure that one – they are OSHA compliant and two - that there is a safe work environment for all maintenance people and other trades that need to be on the roof.

Learn more about WTI.