Safety Tips by Cotney
Forty years under the sun
By John Kenney, Cotney Consulting Group. Learn about roofing's silent occupational hazard. Ask a group of veteran roofers about the biggest safety risks they face, and you'll probably hear the same answers. Falls. Weather. Heavy lifting. Power tools. Traffic. Electricity. Rarely does someone mention the one hazard they've been exposed ...
Heat cramps: The warning sign too many roofers ignore
By Cotney Consulting Group. Ignoring heat cramps doesn't demonstrate strength. It increases the likelihood that the body's cooling system will continue to deteriorate. Every experienced roofer has probably seen it happen. A crew member suddenly stops what they're doing and grabs the back of their leg. Maybe it's a calf ...
When every second counts: Emergency planning for roofing crews
By Cotney Consulting Group. Emergencies will always be unpredictable — but how your crew responds doesn’t have to be. Roofing is one of the most unpredictable jobs in construction. Crews work high above the ground, exposed to heat, wind, tools, power and weather, which leaves no room for hesitation when things ...
Directing danger away
By Cotney Consulting Group. Tips for traffic control on roofing jobsites from Cotney Consulting Group. Roofing work doesn’t happen in isolation. Whether you’re setting up in a busy commercial parking lot or a tight residential street, every project involves the movement of delivery trucks, crew vehicles, equipment trailers and pedestrians. That’s ...
When employees don’t follow workplace safety rules
By Cotney Consulting Group. By working together, employers and employees can create a culture of safety that ensures everyone returns home safely at the end of the day. Workplace safety rules are put in place to protect employees from potential hazards and risks. However, despite these rules being implemented, employees may not ...
The roofing safety blueprint
By Cotney Consulting Group. Building a culture that protects crews and companies. Roofing has never been more demanding or more scrutinized when it comes to safety. Between tighter deadlines, labor shortages and increasing OSHA enforcement, safety programs that once relied on routine box-checking no longer cut it. The best contractors have ...
The signs most companies miss
By Cotney Consulting Group. Mental health and suicide prevention in roofing. Most safety conversations in roofing focus on what you can see: fall hazards, equipment, weather and materials. But some of the most serious risks on a jobsite aren’t visible at all. Mental health struggles don’t announce themselves with alarms or warning ...
When the heat takes over
By Cotney Consulting Group. How extreme temperatures increase jobsite risk. Extreme heat doesn’t usually cause the first mistake on a job. It causes the second one. The missed step. The rushed movement. The decision felt fine at the moment, but it wasn’t. Crews understand heat. They work through it every ...
When everything is urgent
By Cotney Consulting Group. Managing stress during high-traffic roofing seasons. Every roofing company has a season when everything feels urgent. Phones ring nonstop. Backlogs grow. Crews are stretched thin. Weather windows close fast. Customers want answers yesterday. Busy seasons are good for business, but they’re also when safety risk quietly increases. ...
The silica citation nobody sees coming
By Cotney Consulting Group. Why roofing crews are getting flagged, and how you can avoid it. Many roofing contractors are surprised when an OSHA inspector brings up silica exposure. After all, most roofers don’t think of themselves as “silica trades.” They’re not mining, blasting or pouring concrete, silica citations are appearing ...
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