Experts Lend Their Insight on Fall Prevention

By Cayden Wemple. 

Fall prevention is perhaps the most important aspect of roofing, and two experts from the NRCA, Cheryl Ambrose and Rich Trewyn, shed some light on the subject in a new Lunch & Learn webinar. 

The roofing industry knows that the most important aspect of our field is safety. And even more so, fall-prevention safety. On a new Lunch & Learn webinar, host Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Cheryl Ambrose and Rich Trewyn, who are two fall prevention experts from the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA), to discuss the importance of fall prevention safety.  

The thing that is lacking in terms of fall prevention safety is resources. In a study conducted by the  
Center for Construction Research and Training, they found that there is an extreme lack of adequate training for the subject.  

“One of the biggest things that we saw from the survey was the lack of adequate training on so many different levels,” says Rich, “Unfortunately, what we are seeing is that most companies do not really take the time to onboard correctly. They do not take the time to actually get their employees up to par with where they should be for having a safe workplace, and that is the problem.” 

“Construction companies with fewer than 20 employees account for 75% of the fatal falls in the construction industry. Then when we look at the construction industry as a whole, 91% of them have fewer than 20 employees. They typically may lack the resources.” 

The NRCA is doing their due diligence to educate contractors, and Cheryl and Rich think that smaller companies should get on board as well. “Our average membership is 40 employees in a company,” Cheryl explained, “So we see all those companies as taking their situation very seriously. They look for the resources. They come on board in part to take advantage of all the NRCA resources.” 

Watch the full webinar here to learn more about the NRCA’s fall prevention efforts.