Safety Tips Shoveling Snow Off The Roof

Shoveling snow off your roof.

Safety tips shoveling snow off the roof.

Take it slow and stretch out before you begin. It seems like the roofers that taught me sure knew about this from their height safety class as well as from personal experience. If your flat roof is easily accessible from an interior stairway you may want to shovel the roof but be careful not to damage the roof covering. Workers performing snow removal operations are exposed to many serious hazards.

Deep snow on a roof can bury a gas appliance flue causing the exhaust to enter the home. Clearing the snow off your roof from the gutters or eaves upwards of three to four feet after each winter storm can help prevent ice dams from forming. Melting the snow in lieu of removal may cause localized overloading of the roof. Leaks roof collapse ice damming and more can result from too much snow and ice staying too long on your roof.

What s the final word. This can be extremely dangerous and is best left to professionals. Push the snow rather than lifting it. Last night i noticed about an 18 inch overhang of snow ice mix.

If you do lift it use a small shovel or only. Shovel only fresh powdery snow. Don t use mechanical snow removal equipment. Excess snow on the roof can weaken and potentially collapse a structure particularly an older building with a shallow pitched roof.

That s why i prefer to have my father or even a professional come over to my roof and shovel away the snow. There are the dangers of a person sliding off the roof falling from a ladder overexertion or falling snow sliding on top of them. To that end here are 8 tips on how to safely handle the rooftop snow removal process. My neighbor has a low pitched 4 12 roof that is steel.

From a couple of roofers i was taught about the safety of shoveling off snow from the roof. Check with a structural engineer before using water or a heating device to melt the snow. The risk of damaging the roof. This morning it was all on the ground.

There are potential dangers of shoveling or raking snow from a roof besides the collapse danger. National safety council recommends the following tips to shovel safely. Do not shovel after eating or while smoking. The threat of costly repairs and significant safety hazards will sometimes require removing excess snow from your roof.

We are in a little warm spell here after all the snow the last 10 days. Workers may also be injured or killed by a roof. Workers may fall off roof edges through skylights and from ladders and aerial lifts. This condition can introduce carbon monoxide a colorless odorless poisonous gas in the building.

Remember to avoid using a ladder in snowy and icy conditions. Roofs that are flat also have a maximum snow load they can carry. But if you do have to get the snow off the roof here are some tips from fema for removing snow safely and effectively.