Credit: Skyline Group International.
In a perfect world, a single set of safety regulations would apply across Canada. But our world isn’t perfect, and you’ll often find regulations vary from province to province. Layer national safety regulations on top of that, and you can end up with a complex set of rules to follow.
However, even if you operate in accordance with every regulation, are you genuinely safe or merely compliant?
Skyline Group International, a provider of rooftop access and working at height solutions, took that question to heart when crafting its new mission and vision.
“If you look at the building code and you look at the safety regulations that exist, there’s a lot of conflicting information province to province,” says Vincenzo Cutrone, marketing manager for Skyline Group International. “Our take is that whether a life is in British Columbia or Ontario, the value is the same, so why are the rules different and why do the regulations differ? It just doesn’t make sense. Safe is safe.”
That perspective steered the company toward its new mission statement: “To create safe elevated work areas that protect people, companies and brands.”
“The reality is, we help you be compliant, but that’s just the start of the conversation,” Cutrone says. “We have you go way beyond compliance to creating a safe environment.
“If the goal is to create a safe environment and a safe access, we should be doing everything possible to minimize that risk of a fall.”
Compliance is arresting a fall; safety is preventing it
Consider the difference between a cage system and a lifeline. The cage system is designed to focus the fall down the length of the ladder, which can vary in height. In the end, the system still permits the worker to fall. A lifeline, meanwhile, will only permit a worker to slip a few inches. The stop may be jarring, but the worker is far less likely to sustain an injury.
That, Cutrone explains, is the difference between compliance and safety.
“The cage system is like saying that you’re falling, but it’s okay to fall 20 feet because you’ll fall to where you started climbing,” he notes. “But it doesn’t change a bit how dangerous [that fall] is.”
The same principle applies once a worker reaches the rooftop.
“Once you’re on the roof, you’re technically just inches away from a fall because you just climbed up the ladder,” Cutrone notes.
Installing an anchor point that the worker can connect to upon reaching the rooftop may be compliant, but again, it protects the worker after a fall has occurred; it does nothing to prevent the fall in the first place. If the aim is safety over mere compliance, the situation calls for a different solution.
“Is there a gate? Does that gate close behind you, creating a bit of a barrier? Are there other guardrails extending around the ladder to protect you once you get up and are travelling to your destination,” Cutrone says. “Again, we’re trying to prevent the fall from happening.”
This philosophy of fall prevention rather than fall mitigation is the driving force behind the company’s new mission statement: “To create safe elevated work areas that protect people, companies and brands.”
“It’s really proactive safety versus reactive safety – that’s how we look at it,” Cutrone adds.
