HARCON SERVICES LIMITED
108 MANCHESTER ROAD
CARRINGTON
MANCHESTER
GT MANCHESTER M31 4BD
Tel: 0161 777 4230
Fax:
Suppliers of: Lightning Protection, Xray Room Ceilings, Height Safety and Access, Modular Structures, Fall Arrest Systems, Vertical Lifelines, Ladder Fall Arrest Systems, Horizontal Lifelines, Roof Safety Systems, Personal Protective Equipment PPE, Workwear
Harcon Services Ltd design fall protection systems including anchorage and access systems, lightning protection, specialist modular structures & X-ray, workwear & PPE.
Our specialist divisions are designed to ensure we maintain the high level of service our clients have become accustomed to and include:
- Height Safety / Fall Protection
- Testing
- Lightning Inspection & Protection
- Training
- Workwear & PPE
Height & Safety Access:
Our in-house design and technical support teams provide solutions to meet your specific on-site height safety and access needs. Our solutions are designed specifically to help you create a safe environment to work from height. Harcon’s safety engineers are fully certified to carry out site surveys to determine your fall protection requirements, alternatively if you prefer, we can work directly with the architect to create a blueprint that is specific to your site.
Testing:
You are legally required to have your height safety and access systems inspected and personnel trained on safe use by a competent person at least every 12 months. We are specialists in testing and inspection of height safety, access equipment and lightning protection. Whilst on the roof we can also carry out professional gutter and roof maintenance.
Lightning Inspection & Protection:
Harcon Services offers a complete solution for your lightning protection requirements. This includes a full audit, inspection, and testing service as well as specialist advice on surge protection equipment, comprehensive design, and installation of grounding solutions.
Further Technical information is available to download from the BPi PDF Library or from the Manufacturers own website.
Do you really need a gate on your roof?
It might not be the first place that comes to mind when you think about safety gates, but your roof could be one of the main areas to benefit from a gate solution.
Safety gates provide a level of security and safety that other void and gap protection solutions, such as bars and chains, do not.
The Kee Gate solution
The Kee Gate self closing safety gate features a mechanism which ensures open gaps, such as those left by access points from stairs and ladders, are always automatically sealed once the user has passed through.
This minimises the risks posed by human error, as users will often forget to replace or close less secure methods like sliding bars behind them.
People do not often imagine there is much point in having a gate on your roof, surely there are more effective systems such as guardrails or barriers?
While it is true these systems are just as important, there are some areas where they will not be suitable.
Gates on roofs
For example, guardrail or barriers cannot be used on access points from ladders or stairs, as you will need to leave a gap for the person to move onto the roof.
Whilst near this void, the person can be at risk of a fall.
Similarly, it can be difficult to protect workers from skylights and roof hatches, or risky areas, whilst still allowing safe access for maintenance, repair or access and egress.
Safety gates like Kee Gate solve this issue by ensuring that access points can be utilised, whilst remaining protected.
Workers can safely access the roof via access points and rely on the gate to shut automatically behind them, making work safer and more efficient.
Kee Gate can be installed on ladder access points onto the roof as part of our full height gate ladder access range, or around roof hatches or skylights as part of the Kee Dome system.
Kee Gate can also be easily installed as part of a larger KeeGuard system which can be erected to prevent people from accessing unsafe areas of the roof.
If you have a pre-existing guardrail or barrier system on your roof, you can simply retro-fit Kee Gate to that existing system for further protection.
Gates are a fantastic safety solution not just on the ground but at height as well, and this is often an area neglected by those with a health and safety responsibility.
To find out more about our safety gates range, click here, or call us on 0161 777 4230.
The solution to overcoming obstacles on roofs
Modern roofs contain a host of hazards which can make accessing them safely and efficiently more difficult than it needs to be.
Inadequate planning at the design stage can mean plant and equipment is poorly placed, or create sudden changes in level, introducing obstacles and making safe access harder.
In some cases, this poor planning can not only make simple work unnecessarily difficult, but can also pose a risk to the safety of those carrying it out, putting them at risk of injury.
To remedy this, Harcon supplies a range of step-overs and access platforms for roofs, to make access easy and safe.
Roof obstacles
You will often find obstacles such as cable beds, conduits and pipework on modern, especially industrial, roofs. These pose a trip hazard and injury risk to workers or contractors, as well as generally making movement across your roof harder.
The best way to deal with these obstacles is to avoid them all together, by creating a safe route over them with the use of step-overs. These are steps which allow you cross over the hazard safely.
Roof step-over platform
Though fabricated or welded systems are a common solution, they come with a host of drawbacks, such as being prone to rust and failure, and being difficult to replace or repair when they do fail, making them a poor choice for longer term protection.
Our Step-Overs are modular in nature, built from highly durable Kee Klamp galvanised steel or aluminium tubular fittings. We can supply our Step-Overs in simple kit-form, or as bespoke designs for more complicated access tasks, tailored to meet virtually any configuration, height or width, without sacrificing durability.
All our Step-Overs are designed to comply with current regulations and standards, including the Work at Height Regs and EN 14122 part 3 and 4.
Alternatively, if you do not have a need for a full sized system, we can supply our Mini Step-Overs, for smaller but not negligible obstacles such as cables or pipes.
Changes in Level
Sudden or unexpected changes in level are another issue which can be found on commercial or industrial roofs. A new section of the building may have been added as part of an extension project, or the building may have been designed and built in a period where design regulations were less strict.
The safest and most effective solution to this comes in the form of access platforms, which will allow safe access from one area to another.
Similar to our bespoke Step-Overs, our range of bespoke access platforms is modular, meaning they can be designed to suit almost any scenario, are easy and quick to install, and will remain effective for a long time.
With no drilling or welding required, and suitable for pre-assembled delivery to site, bespoke, modular access platforms are the ideal solution if you want a premium product with minor site disruption.
If you think a Step-Over or access platform could be the solution for you, or if you want to discuss a bespoke solution, call our product experts on 0161 777 4230, or use our contact form.
