Safety Monitoring Systems

A safety monitoring system is an alternative fall protection option for low-slope roofing work. It requires a designated person to keep watch over employees.

If employers elect to use a safety monitoring system, they must designate a competent person to monitor the safety of workers and to warn them when their work puts them close to a fall hazard.

The safety monitor must meet the following requirements:

• Be competent in the recognition of fall hazards
• Warn workers when it appears that they are unaware of fall hazards or when the workers are acting in an unsafe manner
• Be on the same walking or working surfaces as the workers and be able to see them
• Be close enough to the work operations to speak directly with workers
• Have no other duties to distract them from their monitoring function

Employers must ensure the following:

• Mechanical equipment is not used or stored in areas where safety monitoring systems are being used to monitor workers engaged in roofing operations on low-slope roofs.
• No worker, other than one engaged in roofing work on low-slope roofs or one covered by a fall protection plan, enters an area where a worker is being protected by a safety monitoring system.
• All workers in a controlled access zone have been instructed to promptly comply with fall hazard warnings issued by safety monitors.
• Safety monitoring systems must also be used as part of a fall protection plan where no other alternative measure has been implemented. The use of a fall protection plan (discussed later in the course) is limited to residential construction work, precast concrete work, and leading-edge work. The employer must first demonstrate that it is infeasible or creates a greater hazard to use conventional fall protection equipment.

To learn more about Focus Four Safety visit our Construction Focus Four Safety Online Training web page.