# Roof trusses and safety



## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

Brutus said:


> Totally safer. Especially for a guy like me. I've had 6 inner ear surgeries and my balance is a little off. 10 inch foundation walls, are fine. Even 2x8 walkers, Im pretty good. But when it gets smaller, I seem to lose balance somewhat. Sucks. Why I am a framer with bad balance? I dunno. I like it better than pushing planks through a thickness planer all day, that's for sure.


Yeah it's safer, but it would be hard to fall due to losing balance. Only way you're likely to fall is if you do something dumb. I've fallen once walking on the top plate of a wall. It was because I was inexperienced and didn't know what I was doing, so I tried bending over and reaching below my feet, then I lost it and just fell. Now that I have experience, I make it a policy to train new guys how to be safe when I ask them to work up high. As opposed to how I was trained when I was new, and was told "Just go up there and do it". 

It's the added height that makes you feel off balance. Try taking a 2x4 and throwing it on the ground, walk across it a few times and see if you can manage to fall off. You'd have to almost purposely jump off to do it.


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## JT Wood (Dec 17, 2007)

Brutus said:


> I've had 6 inner ear surgeries and my balance is a little off.


your not supposed to put the Q TIPS in so far!:whistling


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## Brutus (May 29, 2007)

hughjazz said:


> your not supposed to put the Q TIPS in so far!:whistling


my ears used to just start bleeding out of no where. ear infections on an almost bi-monthly basis. 

Thanks, Kenn. I walk on 2x6 on the ground all the time, dont know why, just do. But still miss my footing all the time... haha. Im a wacko, though.


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

Two sets like this, or even smaller, and you are able to handle any part of the job.


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## nailit69 (Sep 8, 2010)

We used homemade brackets back in the day that hooked over the top of the wall w/a few 2x planks and put the work at about 36", when you're done you just move em to the next wall and go, no ropes. We use a variation of this when we do tall foundation walls, brackets that hook on the snap-ties. :thumbsup:


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## Troppo (Nov 28, 2011)

nailit69 said:


> We used homemade brackets back in the day that hooked over the top of the wall w/a few 2x planks and put the work at about 36", when you're done you just move em to the next wall and go, no ropes. We use a variation of this when we do tall foundation walls, brackets that hook on the snap-ties. :thumbsup:


We've been doing it the same way......so far


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## Splinter hands (Aug 31, 2011)

Willie T said:


> Two sets like this, or even smaller, and you are able to handle any part of the job.


Is that the ladder on the scaffold technique? I know it well:laughing:


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## richardframing (Dec 31, 2010)

*What's your fall distance?*

How far are you allowed to fall? Ladder against the outside wall, walk the wall in the middle. You're probably building on slab? Were allowed 3m of drop in alberta, then must be tied off. In general that means you can fall into the building but not out. Walking the outside wall without trusses is really just asking for it. If you think its bad on a house try to comply when doing 15' high walls, almost impossible.


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## Dirtywhiteboy (Oct 15, 2010)

richardframing said:


> when doing 15' high walls, almost impossible.


I do those with sticks from the ground:blink: it's hard to fall off the ground:laughing::laughing:


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## Ninjaframer (May 28, 2011)

I figure If I fall I'll just grab whatever I fell off.


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## Dirtywhiteboy (Oct 15, 2010)

Ninjaframer said:


> I figure If I fall I'll just grab whatever I fell off.


Have you ever fallen :blink:


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## Ninjaframer (May 28, 2011)

Nope, but I've been forced to jump a couple times  crazy crane operators.


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## J L (Nov 16, 2009)

We were setting trusses on a windy day. I was on the ground with a rope attached to one end of the truss to try and steady it into place. A big gust kicked up and swung the truss around so the far corner of it was over the edge of the house where there was a guy walking walls waiting for the truss. It caught him right in the midsection and took him off of the house and swinging over the dirt 30' in the air. I got the truss to swing back and when it cleared over the exterior wall (so he was inside of the house) he let go and dropped down to the subfloor.

The crane operator refused to set anymore trusses that day.


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## CanningCustom (Nov 4, 2007)

i had 4 broken ribs and a lot of bumps and bruises from a run away truss. Damn wind


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## Ninjaframer (May 28, 2011)

The truss co I like to use doesn't have a crane so I hire a guy that does neon signs and trusses on the side, he has a California sign crane thats a bit small but will do 7-8 trusses at a time. I've had him knock guys of walls, had the pin in the table snap while lifting a big log ridge post- crane swung around , smashed into the building, this operator is missing fingers becouse this crane is all cable and pulley and he put his hand in the wrong place one time. He's a good ole boy though and I like him


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## FramingPro (Jan 31, 2010)

CanningCustom said:


> i had 4 broken ribs and a lot of bumps and bruises from a run away truss. Damn wind


i wouldn't ....truss that guy anymore
pun intended


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## Dirtywhiteboy (Oct 15, 2010)

FramingPro said:


> i wouldn't ....truss that guy anymore
> pun intended


I never truss em to began with:no:


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## CanningCustom (Nov 4, 2007)

Nick, was a young new guy took his gloves off to hold the rope. what do you think happened to his hands when the wind picked up to about 70kms


yep the poor kid got such bad rope burn i dont blame him for letting go.


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## [email protected] (Jan 10, 2010)

There is quite a few ways to be compliant while rolling trusses. The building were framing right now has 16 ft walls. Lift one side and guy with harness on the other. Harness' are very difficult to have set up right unless the plates are 12 ft plus off the ground because of the lanyard. Yoyos work better but you still get a swinging violation situation. I build walkways out of 2 2x6 42 in down on the insde of the building if needed this keeps us fully compiant and allows the guys to do everything with ease. Osha is huge here and gets there daily randoms from the lumber yards and truss plant delivery schedule at times.


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## [email protected] (Jan 10, 2010)

We will be setting 52 40ft trusses tommorrow ill get some pics of our setup.


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## skcolo (May 16, 2009)

We used to build a lot on infill sites where we scraped an existing house. Mostly on 6000 sf lots where there wasn't any room to assemble the trusses on the ground and crane them up. Back when everything was 2x4 walls, I couldn't watch these guys walking around on 2x4 plates not tied off on a 2 story house, especially over a two story great room. Luckily there weren't any serious accidents, mainly because we always used the best crane operators and would not ever set anything in the wind.

I like the plank idea. My framers hate to tie off, so I think we will look into that on the next house.

Now for the gutter installers....


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## lowfiron (Aug 23, 2010)

*crane & truss*

There are a lot of consiterations like lot size and so on. Even though if you have a two story or even a single story you might need a crane to load the truss package. We used Gradall (or Koering, etc) fork lifts which could reach a second story providing you had a decent approch to the building. That might be into a certified lift operator now, no one required a cert for a forklift driver ten- fifteen years ago.
I would say, Utah, that the regulations will catch up to you pretty soon and I predict it will not be the government, it will be your insurance company. I am familiar with the good ol boy system and here that's pretty much past history as far as over looking all the saftey stuff. Like I say your liability and comp insurance companies will be all over that in short order.
I miss the days when you could jury rig stuff and make it work but it's pretty much gone over to liability concerns.


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## Ninjaframer (May 28, 2011)

Ya I hear ya, I've worked in the big city where everything is regulated to the max and I much prefer the good ole boy method. I don't mean safety isnt important but it's not regulations that keep people safe. I hate the fact that America is turning into a nanny state. I'm sure the regulation that keeps everyone in the metro areas safe will soon be invading the rural paradise we have here. It's too bad were all just to stupid to be trusted to take care of ourselves. Personal responsibility is a thing of the past.


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## lowfiron (Aug 23, 2010)

Like I said. It's not the government, it's insurance.
Regardless, safety is good. I've seen some bad happenings in my 40yrs in the business.


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## Ninjaframer (May 28, 2011)

I worry every time an employee picks up a saw. I don't want anybody gettin hurt. I'd say we're not very formal about it, we don't have safety meetings, but before we do anything that could be dangerous we discuss it and try to make It As safe as possible. I understand that as the employer I'm responcible for these guys. It's a constant worry, especially when we start to put a roof together.


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## lowfiron (Aug 23, 2010)

I'm sure you do.
15 years ago the company I ran framing for had required tail gate meetings with a package of subjects and they would send an agent to walk jobs every so often. 
I never saw OSHA, even after an accident. I never saw OSHA when I was a super for a sizable GC. The project managers were on the subs to be OSHA compliant.
So safety programs and compliance was driven by insurance companies who's first concern was to keep claims down.


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## Brutus (May 29, 2007)

Anti-wingnut said:


> Is that a crane, or a knockle boom? Cause if that's a crane, somebody needs to learn how to say "two-block".
> 
> http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/two-blocked




Pretty sure it's a knuckle boom. I can't remember, we don't deal with that company often.


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## A&E Exteriors (Aug 14, 2009)

RemodelGA said:


> We were setting trusses on a windy day. I was on the ground with a rope attached to one end of the truss to try and steady it into place. A big gust kicked up and swung the truss around so the far corner of it was over the edge of the house where there was a guy walking walls waiting for the truss. It caught him right in the midsection and took him off of the house and swinging over the dirt 30' in the air. I got the truss to swing back and when it cleared over the exterior wall (so he was inside of the house) he let go and dropped down to the subfloor.
> 
> The crane operator refused to set anymore trusses that day.


I had a guy make us set trusses on a house with a skytrack in the mud, with a completed house on both sides. One guy on track, me on plates, owners brother (complete wuss) on the ground with the rope. 
I rode a girder truss about 12' in 2 directions. Good times!

We had to continue setting trusses

Edit, on a cold windy day


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## A&E Exteriors (Aug 14, 2009)

Brutus said:


> Am I understanding some of you right...
> 
> You crane up one truss at a time... set it. Then crane up the next? That seems awfully time consuming.


That's how anybody I ever framed for did it. While the next truss is being hooked up, you have time to scamper up and put your spacers and some preliminary bracing on.


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## Ninjaframer (May 28, 2011)

We had a spreader bar made that would lift 6 at a time but usually we just set piles and spread them out ourselves. Most of the time we only used the spreader bar for big scissor trusses.


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## Troppo (Nov 28, 2011)

Hi guys, 
Ive been holidaying in Tazmania for 3 weeks. Awesome place, they love thier trees. (I'm sure I could hear banjo's playing)
Got back to town to find the unprotected work heigh has been dropped to 2 meters, just over 6 ft


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## Brutus (May 29, 2007)

Troppo said:


> Hi guys,
> Ive been holidaying in Tazmania for 3 weeks. Awesome place, they love thier trees. (I'm sure I could hear banjo's playing)
> Got back to town to find the unprotected work heigh has been dropped to 2 meters, just over 6 ft


Been that way for a few years here.... doesn't mean we haven't found ways around it.... :laughing:

At 2 m, my lanyard wouldn't stop me before I hit the ground :laughing:


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