Constructors, contractors and others who regularly work at heights - as well as those who design products for their protection - are being offered safer roofs and better safety system component testing thanks to a newly enhanced test facility from Sayfa Systems – the Shepshed-based specialists in working at heights.
The rig allows testing to the critical standards required by the new safety standard BS EN 795.
Sayfa’s rig simulates the potential forces generated by a person falling from a roof, and so allows the validation of any roof-mounted safety system component or complete roofing system.
The rig is a ‘roof’ set at ground level, with a high-specification drop-tower, which can be configured for all common and bespoke roof types. It allows the safe testing of overhangs, canopies and widely spaced beams, and the safety systems mounted on such roofs, including abseil points, davit base plates and davit arms.
The company has built the rig specifically for this testing purpose. It is believed to be the most sophisticated for this type of testing in the UK. The company believes it allows testing to a higher standard than is available to any other producer of similar products.
It allows a range of weights to be dropped from a range of heights up to 5 meters. A calibrated force meter and specialist software ensures test results can be captured to one-tenth of a second, meaning that each component in the safety system can be isolated during analysis and its reaction to the force measured and assessed. The system can be configured to reproduce test forces of up to 12 kilo-newtons.
The fully-certified rig means the company can test a variety of systems to prevent or reduce the effects of fall risks for working-at-height operatives involved in construction or maintenance work on roofs. Abseil or cradle-access systems can all be simulated by these rigs.
“Sayfa Systems Limited is committed to complete safety testing on all our roofing systems to ensure maximum safety for any person required to work at height”, said managing director, Roy South.
“The insights we have obtained using this new rig have been fantastic. It has helped to shed new light on how we design our roof corners, for example.
“We are also using it to validate our fall arrest AirDeck product,” he said.