I went on this 10/12 garage to mark the hail squares. I was with the contractor. Northern slope was all covered with algae. I was talking to the contractor and said, "I am not going on that slope". As these words  were coming out of my mouth, I started sliding. Slid all the way down, gaining speed and fell to the ground. The contractor ran like crazy to see if I was hurt, but I was really lucky that day.Slightly sprained ankle and scratches all over my hands from trying to stop that was it. What really saved me was the soft ground and my training as a skydiver, where I am used to falling and rolling :)  I was so scared, damn! when I was going down my only thought was, please let there be nothing on the ground that can hurt me. Now, no more algae slopes that's for sure. Luckily, it was my last claim for the day.

Have you or your buddies ever fallen? How bad? Under what circumstances? 

What a day!

Thanks

Olegred I'm glad you're OK.  We have lost members in the past to falls.

Take care and please be safe.

Roy
 

I get alot of funny looks in the summer time when I put on my US Army leather gloves before I get on a roof, Learned the same lesson as you years ago and tore up my hands, now like you , if it aint looking safe, stay off, rope off, or get help and I always WEAR MY GLOVES,  glad you are OK,

Posted By Olegred on 22 Jan 2010 07:03 PM
And by the way, you mix Christianity and buddhism/hinduism , both are stupid superstitions.

Is there anything you don't voice your opinion about?   I don't care for your language either; quite inappropriate in this environment.  

You certainly are full of yourself, aren't you?

 In both cases as long as you are moving in the up or down direction you can throw your weight to the up slope, and dig in with the balls of your feet to stop/slow the side.

I bet  this attachment does little to stop the contraction of the hemorroid housing though.

Steep roofs are the carriers largest liability exposure. We all know the consequence of not walking a steep roof. The carriers/vendors and all the prople who work for both enforce the no cure no pay rule, and some widows have cashed in and ever adjusters widow should seek the best law firm in the US. Why are  the satellite photos now allowed?  When I worked off shore on energy claims my wife knew who to call if I was killed, she still does on roof claims. Your employer can not contract away THEIR implied negligence.

I have fallen a couple times, never any serious damage, only scrapes bruises and the slightly soiled drawers. A couple thing I have learned in the process;

1. GET A ROPE!! $250 will get enough equipment to be safe. A couple hundred $ worth of training will help too. (training has already been beaten to death on another thread, so please let it go)

2. GET A ROPE!! But if you feel you just don't need a rope because your parents were part mountain goat, get some good shoes and stay in the valleys.

3. GET A ROPE!! OK testosterone his in abundance and you just want to prove you can do it. You walk the ridge and ease down to draw your test square. Make sure there is a chimney or vent pipe or maybe a offset to land on.

4. )@#$ IT, GET A ROPE!!! In the end, a rope and harness is the only real solution, cougar paws are good, but one misstep and your on you butt sliding down the slope. Vet pipes and chimneys are a good backup, but one step left or right and you miss the target. One option I didn't mention was doing the slope next to the pool, so if you do fall you hit the pool. Again. just GET A ROPE!!!

JWG

I see no actual need to get on top if a roof is steep. For the following reasons: 1) From the ground you can see evidence of wind damage, and even hail damage in some cases. Just ZOOM in and take your shot. Of course if there is hail damage you need to mark the test squares somehow (maybe extension pole of some type used from a ladder against the eave, with chalk or whatever you use attached to the front) 

2) If it is not quite so steep, but steep enough to fall from, then i lean a ladder on the edge and take overall views of each slope all around. If they still want an overall view of all slopes together i will send one of the free aerial photos found from several online sites.

3) For no one am i risking my life or health, and certainly not for the sake of earning a paycheck.

This all should only apply to day claims, as i have heard that there are steep and high teams available with Cat work ?? I dunno though, as i have not worked a storm site.

I was trained over 50 years ago by two older adjusters, the vice president of property claims for the SW USA and the head fire and inland marine property examiner for the SW USA. Steep roofs came up on the first day. My instruction to get a file approved was: "get as close to it(roof) as you

can. I have never had a roof claim regected in all my years. I did leave a sewer back up storm that turned into a roof/wind storm after 7 weeks and a new manager took over. "you will not get paid unless you take a photo from the ridge looking down the roof with  your car (that has the sign on the door). We all know who this was.