Ask Who Holds the Fall Protection Plan Before Your Roof Is Torn Off

A roofing crew working on your house is working at height, often on a surface that is wet, frosted, or covered in loose granules, and few of the bids you compare will say how that crew stays safe while it works. Fall protection is part of the job, not an extra. OSHA's construction rules in 29 CFR 1926 Subpart M apply to residential roofing as well as commercial work, and they generally require some form of protection once a worker is six feet or more above a lower level. Missouri does not license roofers, so no state credential tells you whether a crew has a plan for that. The plan is something you can ask for, read, and compare before anyone steps onto your roof.

Roofer comparison

When you lay two quotes side by side, the price columns look like the whole story. The safety question sits outside them. Two crews can bid the same square count and the same shingle line, and one of them may have a written plan while the other intends to figure out fall protection once the work starts. That difference does not show on the page you sign, which is why it is worth asking about before you sign.

A written plan does not need to be long. It should name the method each worker will use, the equipment on site, and the person responsible for checking it each day. Those three items let you compare one crew to another in plain terms. Here are the methods you are most likely to hear about:

• Personal fall arrest. A harness, a lanyard, and an anchor point that the worker is tied to. The anchor has to be rated to hold the load OSHA sets for it, which is at least 5,000 pounds for each worker attached, or it has to be designed by a qualified person with a safety factor of at least two. This is the method most residential crews use on steep pitches, and it only works if the anchor is installed correctly and tested.
• Guardrails. Rails or barriers at the roof edge that stop a worker from reaching the drop. They suit some edge work and low-slope sections, but they are not always practical on a steep main roof with a tight eave.
• Warning line systems. A rope or wire set back from the edge with markers. OSHA allows these only on low-slope roofs, so a warning line cannot be the plan for a steep pitch no matter what a bid implies.
• Ladder access. Extension ladders have to reach at least three feet above the landing point and be secured at the top. OSHA's ladder rules are in 1926 Subpart X. A crew that sets its ladders carelessly at the eave is telling you something about how it handles the rest of the day.

Ask which of these methods the crew will use on your house, not which ones it uses in general. A crew that works on flat commercial jobs may use guardrails there and something else on a steep residential pitch. The answer for your roof is the one that matters, and it should match the layout of your roof, including the ridge, the valleys, and any dormer or second-story edge where a worker could fall.

What it costs

Fall protection costs money, and a quote may or may not show it. Harnesses, lanyards, anchors, ladder setup, and the time to install and inspect them all carry a cost. Some crews build those costs into the labor rate. Others list them as a separate line labeled safety or equipment. Some bids leave the item out and expect it to appear later as a change order once the crew is already on the roof. None of these arrangements is automatically wrong, but the difference matters when two bids are close.

Ask whether the safety equipment is included in the price. If it is a separate line, ask what it covers. An equipment line that says only safety tells you very little. A line that names the anchors, the harness for each worker, and the ladder setup tells you what you are buying. If a bid leaves the item out entirely, get the answer in writing before the start date rather than on the morning the first worker reaches the ridge.

St. Louis weather adds a cost that does not appear on any line. The freeze-thaw cycle leaves frost on north-facing slopes well into March and April, and a roof that looks dry from the driveway can still be slick at the eave. Spring hail season also means crews are often working through the same weeks that storm damage is being repaired across the metro, which puts pressure on schedules. Ask whether the crew stops work when the deck is frosted or wet, and whether a stop like that moves your start date. A crew that works through frost to hold a schedule is making a choice you should know about before the work begins.

What to ask

These questions work on any bid, whether it arrives as a single page or a stack of forms. They are plain enough to ask on the phone and specific enough that a written answer means something.

1. Who is the person on site responsible for fall protection, and will that person be on your roof every working day?
2. Which method will each worker use on the steep sections, and which method will be used on any low-slope section?
3. Who installs the roof anchors, and where will they go relative to the ridge, the valleys, and any edge the crew will work near?
4. Is each anchor checked or tested before use, and can you see the written plan before the start date?
5. What happens to the schedule if the deck is frosted, wet, or too windy on a given morning?
6. Is the fall protection equipment included in the price, or is it a separate line or a change order?
7. Has each worker been trained on the equipment, and is that training written down?

Missouri's lack of a state roofing license matters here. No state exam or license stands in for a fall safety plan, so the written plan on your job is the document that answers for your roof. If you call Keys Roofing at (314) 220-2333, ask for the written fall protection plan for your address before you commit to a start date. Whatever a crew says on the phone, the written plan is the one you can check against what happens on the day the first worker climbs up.