# Could we make money with hatch rails?



## Oklahoma Area (Feb 1, 2013)

If OSHA is requiring roof hatches to be railed or closed when people are roof, then there might be an interesting opportunity for roofing companies with large maintenance divisions to earn a little extra.
If a contractor does 500 service quotes a year and 300 of those quotes have roof hatches. If 20% of those quotes buy a safety rail, that would equal 60 rails. If the average revenue for a rail and install is $2,000, that equals $120,000 in incremental revenue that they would not have gotten otherwise. If their margins are 25%, that is $30,000 to the bottom line by adding some sort of verbiage in all their quotes for a safety rail. 
What do you think?


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## shazapple (Dec 3, 2010)

If it's an option between spending thousands of dollars or closing the hatch, I can tell you which one the facility manager is going to pick.


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

I think some of the larger companies <cough cough centimark cough cough > offers free OSHA compliance surveys to their customers and tries to sell things like these safety rail systems, painted yellow gas pipes, etc... 


I think it is certainly worth a shot if you are already there. I told my sales staff when I had one, you can always find something to sell them. All they can do is say no, so if you train your sales staff to look for these up-sells or your maintenance staff to be able to sell this, you're not really losing anything by trying. Your 20% closing rate may be ambitious for something like this, or maybe I am wrong.


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

shazapple said:


> If it's an option between spending thousands of dollars or closing the hatch, I can tell you which one the facility manager is going to pick.


I think sometimes some facility managers have a budget to spend and might in some cases "pull the trigger" on something like this. Certainly if it's a matter of the last $3k in the budget for the year and it comes down to this or fixing a hazardous electrical issue, a good manager will pick the hazardous light every time.


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## Oklahoma Area (Feb 1, 2013)

The manufacture of this rail comp. is saying that if a the building owner is relying on the contractor's profetional opion to keep the roof safe and secure, then not mentioning the OSHA thing can get the contractor into a liability issue. 
First, is this true?
 The manufacture wants this verbage at the end of every maintenace quote as like a disclosure type document. If the owner turns it down then you have there signature on a form saying they turned it down.

"As part of the professional roof top review provided by (Company Name), roof top safety and OSHA compliancy is included. OSHA 1910.23 states that any roof hatch must be protected by a safety rail or be shut while individuals are on the roof. Since most individuals do not shut the hatch door, a safety rail for the roof hatch is the only way you can be assured of compliancy. The fine for an unprotected roof hatch is a minimum of $7,000 and can go up to $250,000. The cost for a fall from the roof hatch ranges between $33,000 and $4.2 million.
During the inspection, it was identified that your roof hatch did not have a safety rail installed. I have included a roof hatch safety rail in my quote. The ________ Roof Hatch Safety Rail included in this bid, not only insures OSHA compliancy but provides you with the added safety of having a climb assist or ladder extension that makes it safer for ingress and egress to the roof top. 
By installing a safety rail for your roof hatch, you will avoid an OSHA violation, make the access easier and safer, avoid potential litigation should a fall take place and protect your property value should you ever sell your building.
 The cost for the roof hatch safety rail is: ($ XXXX.00) This is less than 1/3 the price of a violation."


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## shazapple (Dec 3, 2010)

Most OHS acts identify all parties (owner, contractor, etc) as being responsible, so yes there is liability. 

Having that statement at the end of the quote IMO would open you up to more liability, unless you were specifically doing a safety inspection and knew the code inside out.


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