With the arrival of longer days and pleasant weather, attention is starting to turn to farm building repairs and improvements. Many farmers take on painting work and minor repairs themselves at this time of year. This type of work seems harmless but, unfortunately, accidents often occur during the simplest of tasks.
Working on fragile roofs
A full assessment of a roof and the roof structure should be carried out before any work takes place. According to the HSA, factors to be taken into account when assessing the risk include:
Roof lights which may have been obscured by paint.Any repairs carried out in the past, especially if fragile roof sheets have been used for ‘‘patching’’ an otherwise non-fragile roof (such practices are highly dangerous).Metal roof sheets which may have deteriorated with age and become fragile.For example, painting a shed, especially old haysheds, is far from simple and could very easily result in an accident. The timbers and the cladding itself may not be strong enough to carry the weight of a person and could give way while carrying out painting work. Walking on top of any shed, old or new, is always a risk and should be avoided.
The use of proper mobile access equipment suitable for the terrain around the building is advisable. If you find yourself in a position where you have to walk on top of a shed, plan ahead and take the necessary precautions. Some people try and follow the line where the cladding is fixed to the purlins, so that their weight is receiving the best support available. However this is still dangerous.
For further safety on the roof, you should use adequate supports such as properly supported crawling boards, adequately supported ladders and frames or similar methods. However, no matter how careful you are walking on a shed is still dangerous. Roof cladding can be slippery. A strong gust of wind at the wrong time could be fatal, losing your train of thought while working on the roof and taking a wrong step are just examples of how you might unfortunately fall from a height when working. The best advice for people considering carrying out this type of work would be to hire a reputable contractor who specialises in painting because they will have specialised machinery such as a cherry picker and the experience to carry out the work safely.
Before hiring a painting contractor, ask them for their insurance certificates and ask your own insurance provider regarding the suitability of your own cover.
Perhaps it would be worth checking out previous work done by the contractor and talking to their clients before committing to their services. There are some rogue painting and repair contractors in every region scouting for work who do not have proper insurance cover and, very often, carry out substandard work.
I have heard horror stories where bad contractors have painted over skylights in sheds leaving the skylight undistinguishable from the roof cladding, which is a major safety concern if anyone was walking across the roof afterwards.
Roof skylights
Roof skylights can become frail overtime and older skylights are generally classed as fragile compared with newer skylights. It may be a good idea to place safety grids underneath these skylights to reduce the risk of an accident occurring.
The Department has included the grant-aiding of safety grids under roof lights as part of the latest TAMS II schemes, including the Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme and the Animal Welfare, Safety and Nutrient Storage Scheme. The safety grid must be placed underneath the clear light and on top of the supporting purlins. This means that the purlins will be able to directly support any weight placed on the grid.
Electricity
Arthur Byrne (pictured below), public safety manager from ESB Networks, says it is important to remember that there may be live electricity wires and cables present when renovating/working on farm buildings.
One of the obvious hazards with working on roofs is that there may be electricity wires either passing overhead or attached to the building itself.
He warns that it is important to realise that these wires are likely to be live and even coming close to them, let alone touching them, could prove fatal.
“Recently, there was one such serious incident where a member of the public was re-roofing a shed and when throwing a line across the roof section he received an electric shock which caused him to fall from a height on to the ground. He received a serious electric shock and deep burns to his hands and feet. Thankfully, he is alive despite the near fatal nature of this incident,” Arthur said.
Advice
If there are overhead electricity wires present, you need to ring ESB Networks on 1850 372 999 before you carry out any work. ESB Networks will visit your site and agree with you on the safe way to proceed.
According to Arthur, another source of danger arises if there are underground cables near where renovation work is taking place. Often, cables are damaged because their location is not known or because they are not buried as deep as first thought.
The best advice before breaking ground is to first locate the route of the cables (and water, etc), Arthur says. Only then is it safe to proceed with the excavation work, using hand tools when working nearest the cable route. By being careful, not alone are you protecting yourself and other family members, but you are avoiding the inconvenience of being without power.
When building work is under way, there may be ladders and other metallic items in use. It is important to remember to always carry these in a horizontal position, so that they are kept well away from overhead electricity wires. Remember electricity can jump gaps, so you don’t have to make contact to be in danger.
Often when working on a shed, such as re-roofing, the internal electrical fittings could be exposed to the elements. This is highly dangerous, especially for children.
Arthur emphasises that you should always get advice from a competent person; in this case, your registered electrical contractor.
Think safety first, no matter what the pressure and always farm safely with electricity.
Read more
To read the full Farm buildings focus, click here.
With the arrival of longer days and pleasant weather, attention is starting to turn to farm building repairs and improvements. Many farmers take on painting work and minor repairs themselves at this time of year. This type of work seems harmless but, unfortunately, accidents often occur during the simplest of tasks.
Working on fragile roofs
A full assessment of a roof and the roof structure should be carried out before any work takes place. According to the HSA, factors to be taken into account when assessing the risk include:
Roof lights which may have been obscured by paint.Any repairs carried out in the past, especially if fragile roof sheets have been used for ‘‘patching’’ an otherwise non-fragile roof (such practices are highly dangerous).Metal roof sheets which may have deteriorated with age and become fragile.For example, painting a shed, especially old haysheds, is far from simple and could very easily result in an accident. The timbers and the cladding itself may not be strong enough to carry the weight of a person and could give way while carrying out painting work. Walking on top of any shed, old or new, is always a risk and should be avoided.
The use of proper mobile access equipment suitable for the terrain around the building is advisable. If you find yourself in a position where you have to walk on top of a shed, plan ahead and take the necessary precautions. Some people try and follow the line where the cladding is fixed to the purlins, so that their weight is receiving the best support available. However this is still dangerous.
For further safety on the roof, you should use adequate supports such as properly supported crawling boards, adequately supported ladders and frames or similar methods. However, no matter how careful you are walking on a shed is still dangerous. Roof cladding can be slippery. A strong gust of wind at the wrong time could be fatal, losing your train of thought while working on the roof and taking a wrong step are just examples of how you might unfortunately fall from a height when working. The best advice for people considering carrying out this type of work would be to hire a reputable contractor who specialises in painting because they will have specialised machinery such as a cherry picker and the experience to carry out the work safely.
Before hiring a painting contractor, ask them for their insurance certificates and ask your own insurance provider regarding the suitability of your own cover.
Perhaps it would be worth checking out previous work done by the contractor and talking to their clients before committing to their services. There are some rogue painting and repair contractors in every region scouting for work who do not have proper insurance cover and, very often, carry out substandard work.
I have heard horror stories where bad contractors have painted over skylights in sheds leaving the skylight undistinguishable from the roof cladding, which is a major safety concern if anyone was walking across the roof afterwards.
Roof skylights
Roof skylights can become frail overtime and older skylights are generally classed as fragile compared with newer skylights. It may be a good idea to place safety grids underneath these skylights to reduce the risk of an accident occurring.
The Department has included the grant-aiding of safety grids under roof lights as part of the latest TAMS II schemes, including the Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme and the Animal Welfare, Safety and Nutrient Storage Scheme. The safety grid must be placed underneath the clear light and on top of the supporting purlins. This means that the purlins will be able to directly support any weight placed on the grid.
Electricity
Arthur Byrne (pictured below), public safety manager from ESB Networks, says it is important to remember that there may be live electricity wires and cables present when renovating/working on farm buildings.
One of the obvious hazards with working on roofs is that there may be electricity wires either passing overhead or attached to the building itself.
He warns that it is important to realise that these wires are likely to be live and even coming close to them, let alone touching them, could prove fatal.
“Recently, there was one such serious incident where a member of the public was re-roofing a shed and when throwing a line across the roof section he received an electric shock which caused him to fall from a height on to the ground. He received a serious electric shock and deep burns to his hands and feet. Thankfully, he is alive despite the near fatal nature of this incident,” Arthur said.
Advice
If there are overhead electricity wires present, you need to ring ESB Networks on 1850 372 999 before you carry out any work. ESB Networks will visit your site and agree with you on the safe way to proceed.
According to Arthur, another source of danger arises if there are underground cables near where renovation work is taking place. Often, cables are damaged because their location is not known or because they are not buried as deep as first thought.
The best advice before breaking ground is to first locate the route of the cables (and water, etc), Arthur says. Only then is it safe to proceed with the excavation work, using hand tools when working nearest the cable route. By being careful, not alone are you protecting yourself and other family members, but you are avoiding the inconvenience of being without power.
When building work is under way, there may be ladders and other metallic items in use. It is important to remember to always carry these in a horizontal position, so that they are kept well away from overhead electricity wires. Remember electricity can jump gaps, so you don’t have to make contact to be in danger.
Often when working on a shed, such as re-roofing, the internal electrical fittings could be exposed to the elements. This is highly dangerous, especially for children.
Arthur emphasises that you should always get advice from a competent person; in this case, your registered electrical contractor.
Think safety first, no matter what the pressure and always farm safely with electricity.
Read more
To read the full Farm buildings focus, click here.
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