# Warning Lines, with or without safety monitor



## zburger (Aug 30, 2012)

Need info safety guys...

With warning lines, I know the OSHA requirements state that when a worker is performing roofing work outside the lines that they must be protected by another form of fall protection which in our case is a safety monitor. 
However, what if we have all workers within the lines? Is there a distance that if we have only two workers up there lets say, working in a centralized area on the flat roof top, that they would still need a safety monitor with them?

Just trying to figure out if a crew of two guys (who are currently bypassing all of that by simply tying off) if they had warning lines set up around all sides of the roof, if they would only be permitted to use it with a safety monitor present.

Please share.


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

That's an interesting question and I don't know the answer. Let me rephrase so that I understand. You are saying if your two man crew ties off in lieu of safety lines, is a safety monitor needed? Let's say for conversation sake that they are working 100' from the roof edge. Am I correctly understanding your question?

The truth is I don't have the answer because damn it's hard to understand anything government related. I have called the local osha office when pricing a few jobs to ask them what safety they'd recommend for the given scenario, perhaps you could do the same. However my understanding of your question and of the osha rules, and I could be wrong, is that if they are tied off the safety lines aren't needed.


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## Interloc (Apr 6, 2009)

if your concerned..phone osha.


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## Safety_Guy (Dec 15, 2011)

I even got confused with your question. If you have flags erected 6 feet away from the edge on the roof on all 4 sides of the roof and the guys are working inside the flags then no safety monitor is needed. When they walk outside the flags and are now between the edge of the roof and the flags (inside the 6 foot area) then they need to be protected from a fall. (Safety Monitor / guardrails / Personal Fall Protection System). Also remember that the Safety Monitor has to be inside the flags, the safety monitor cannot be working AT ALL, cannot have a tool belt, or any tools in hand. A Safety Monitor cannot be a working person AT ALL. If you gonna have a team of 2 guys on a roof working all the time, put up flags and supply them with a safety monitor or equipt them with a horizontal fall protection system or a personal fall protection system or erect temporary guardrail systems along the edge. Also read up on proper chute set-up if you use chutes to dump debris off the roof. No where in OSHA does it say that there is a safe distance away from the edge without any fall protection. I know of cases where a flat roof operation was being performed 20 feet from the edge (middle of the roof) the employer had no flags, no safety monitor, no other form of fall protection and the employer was cited under 1926.501(b)(10). There is no wording in the standard that tells you that you can work 10,20,30 feet away and you are safe from falling. I know it's unliky that anyone will fall off the roof if they are working 20 feet away from the roofs edge, but that is the way the standard is written. It's ultimately up to the OSHA inspector to determine if he will stop or not on such work site.


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