Nailing in sheathing on a roof.

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I used to work with a crew doing vinyl siding, seamless gutters and other home improvement type stuff during late high school / early college days. The boss' safety talk was, "If you fall off the roof, you're fired!" I ask, "No leniency at all?" He said, "No - and you're fired before you hit the ground... no workmens comp!!!"

He nearly had a chance to test that - one morning we got up on a roof to measure the job, walked around for a bit checking things out and he went up to step over the ridge to the other side...pretty much immediately disappears. I walked up to see what happened and found he slid down the roof and just happened to catch his foot in the gutter to stop at the edge. Turns out, when he stepped over the ridge - to the north side of the roof - there was still a layer of frost/dew which hadn't melted off in the morning sun. So he took the old slip-n-slide right down to the edge.
 
View attachment 280222
Then you’ll hate me. 6:12 running into 2 12:12’s.
Rear of the house is the exact same.

The guys told me New Balance sneakers are all they will use.
The rubber rain boots you slip over your regular shoes work really well also. We always have a couple pairs in the truck. But I won't walk standing seam much over 6/12
 
The rubber rain boots you slip over your regular shoes work really well also. We always have a couple pairs in the truck. But I won't walk standing seam much over 6/12
That was there limit as well but they had wooden ladders even on the 6:12 except once and that was only because most everything was put away.
 
View attachment 280222
Then you’ll hate me. 6:12 running into 2 12:12’s.
Rear of the house is the exact same.

The guys told me New Balance sneakers are all they will use.
The cat isn't going to like the metal. I would make a bad pun about a cat on a hot tin roof, but I suspect he won't stay on that one all that long!
 
I used to work with a crew doing vinyl siding, seamless gutters and other home improvement type stuff during late high school / early college days. The boss' safety talk was, "If you fall off the roof, you're fired!" I ask, "No leniency at all?" He said, "No - and you're fired before you hit the ground... no workmens comp!!!"

He nearly had a chance to test that - one morning we got up on a roof to measure the job, walked around for a bit checking things out and he went up to step over the ridge to the other side...pretty much immediately disappears. I walked up to see what happened and found he slid down the roof and just happened to catch his foot in the gutter to stop at the edge. Turns out, when he stepped over the ridge - to the north side of the roof - there was still a layer of frost/dew which hadn't melted off in the morning sun. So he took the old slip-n-slide right down to the edge.
Did he fire himself?
 
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My guys love their cougar paws.

9/12 is about the most regular boots or sneakers will do for me. I've seen them go up 10+ with ease.

 
Did he fire himself?

No, though technically he didn't fall 'off'... it was just a slide of terror right down to the very edge. .... and luckily, this was only a single story house so the fall would have hurt, but likely not deadly.

I think the worst job we ever worked was one of these 3-story 'dream' houses...plus a full walk-out basement...all stories plus basement have 10-12ft ceilings, yard slopes away from the house and a shed dormer on the third story roof ...which is effectively the 4th story...has a broken gutter. Seems like we duct taped 2 or 3 extension ladders together to be able to reach that thing.
 
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Seems like we duct taped 2 or 3 extension ladders together to be able to reach that thing.
Red Green would have been proud, but my knees would have knocking, even if the two ladders were thru-bolted. I did some crazy stuff in my younger days, but now I am a lot more careful.
 
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So day in day out all day - protect from falls and other hazards. Once in a while - couple times a day - no big deal. Hmm. Let's see, 2- broken knee caps, ladder inverted, 2-broken wrists, roofing fall, broken 4th neck vetibra, roofing fall, 2-broken ankles, ladder slid out, concussion/ coma for two wks ladder, fell back and away. These are guys I've known. Not up day to day, not roofers, but service people cleaning, inspecting, doing installs where 90% of the work is elsewhere. Just saying. It can be a hassle to prevent a mishap, so be careful. I built scaffolding for a recent build, 12/12 pitch. Researching wood scaffolds, osha style, was a study in requirements - what does it take to prevent injury. So I built the required scaffolding, and was very impressed. Not just once, but a dozen times, 45min to assemble, 25min to tear down, move, rebuild, repeat. But wouldn't you know, one time I omitted something, and in time that reqirement became clear. Not in an alarming way, but- maybe a little wind, maybe some frost, maybe. Easy to do, easy to f-up.
Work on the roof is especially dangerous. Still, there are roofers who really love their job and do a great job on the roof.
 
Work on the roof is especially dangerous. Still, there are roofers who really love their job and do a great job on the roof.
We just had a roof reshingled. 9 guys showed up and had it done in a day. It looked routine the way they handled things. 8/12 and 10/12 pitch, 2 story, and a good thunderstorm about 5hrs in, which was just about the time they had it completely stripped. What I thought was impressive was how they had the rolled underlay and rubber roofs down in about 45min just before the storm. Also, there was only one ladder up - that was it - all work was done from above, all of it. The owner said "you should see them on a 12/12 pitch, done the same way", no ladders, scaffolds, planks secured to walk on. They did have ropes, but the times I looked they weren't using them.
 
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We just had a roof reshingled. 9 guys showed up and had it done in a day. It looked routine the way they handled things. 8/12 and 10/12 pitch, 2 story, and a good thunderstorm about 5hrs in, which was just about the time they had it completely stripped. What I thought was impressive was how they had the rolled underlay and rubber roof inspection down in about 45min just before the storm. Also, there was only one ladder up - that was it - all work was done from above, all of it. The owner said "you should see them on a 12/12 pitch, done the same way", no ladders, scaffolds, planks secured to walk on. They did have ropes, but the times I looked they weren't using them.
That's the kind of contractor I'm talking about. They're real professionals. But I still think it's dangerous and there should be insurance.