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Q - WHY ARISE?

1) Hundreds (far too many) of Roofing Inspection Trades professionals experience significant injuries every year with consequences that range anywhere from temporary loss of revenue to career ending injuries and even loss of life.

2) The review of available roof inspection incident reports indicate numerous repetitive commonalities with respect to the primary causes of injury producing occurrences. Many seasoned RIT professionals have cultivated safety / survival skills and understanding throughout their career with information generated from experience, close calls, mistakes and their own accidents. This trial and error on an individual level is the primary process that the industry currently utilizes to provide safety. Organized informational intervention is the very first step towards breaking industry trends that merely perpetuate preventable risk.

3) Our Industry is not regulated by The United States Department of Labor / Occupational Safety & Health Administration, under "Fall Protection" Regulations, as subpart M 1926.500 (a) (1)  stipulates "the provisions of this subpart do not apply when employees are making an inspection, investigation, or assessment of workplace conditions prior to the actual start

of construction work or after all construction work has been completed." AS MEMBERS OF THE ROOFING INSPECTION INDUSTRY, WE MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILLITY FOR OUR OWN SAFETY.

Q – Is this association legitimate?

This association is new but never-the-less very legitimate.  Like many other professional groups, ARISE is now and will always be owned and operated by its members. Our founders  are currently working with OSHA to build an "Alliance Program" - an OSHA assistance program offered by the US dept. of labor. Assistance with starting this program require that our information is:

1) Not sponsored by any business interest.

2) Free and accessible for all RIT professionals to learn from.

Therefore, (at least for now) ARISE will have to rest on the backs of those kind enough to give back to the industry that they make a living from.

Q – Statistical data and injury reports are already available on industrial work related accidents so why would we need to join an association to learn about how to avoid them?

Yes,  industrial incident and safety statistical data is available, it just isn't applicable to the uniqueness of our industry. Some accident report on roof falls can be obtained however 95% of them involve a homeowner's mistake and once again that does not quite fit the venue of risk that we as claims adjusters experience.

The US Dept Of Labor exception 1926.500 excludes 60,000+ claims adjusters and ???? other rfg inspection trades professionals from the regulations of fall protection. How is it that our profession is any less dangerous than any other industry that puts workers on top of things not designed for the human foot?

 ARISE is ONLY about providing individuals and their employers with information on how to adequately provide for their own safety.

Q – The country is full of industrial training companies so why do we need to establish or refine our own standards for roof inspection safety?

Industrial training companies are not the answer to improving the safety of our industry as it is primarily their equipment and techniques (not the rock climbing industries) that are simply not compatible with roof inspection. (examples: adjusters cannot nail anchors to roofs, full body harnesses that attach to safety lines at mid chest do not allow for hands free activity on inclined surfaces, there is no practical roof inspection application for retractable lanyards, no overhead scaffolding to clip on to, etc, etc, etc). The climbing industry is a different story, in fact all OSHA compliant roof inspection process and gear is applicable to (at least some form of) the climbing industry. However, NOT all climbing industry gear and process can be considered applicable to the roof inspection industry. Please understand that this info is not based on the school of "because I said so". This comes from a very detailed OSHA & ANSI compliant group of individuals that make up ACCT (The Assoc of Challenge Course Technology) they are responsible for setting, maintaining and modifying safety standards for those who climb up and do things on various shaped, (is this starting to sound familiar?) high, inclined/pitched elements, all of which require a 5k tensile strength safety line/system.

Significant decrease in our industries risk exposure depends on the establishment of professional consensus:

EXAMPLE: According to my calculations, there are currently five different R&H classes being taught to adjusters based on four different schools of thought. Our risks as adjusters, though somewhat similar to other industries is never-the-less unique and should be addressed as such. This is the exact same approach that has proven so successful for ACCT. Thirty years ago the team/challenge/ropes course industry developed safety process, equipment and technique based on many different schools of thought. People were hurt from this diversity as some felt it was ok to use a laundry basket pulley on their zip lines, others had no idea that dynamic rope could fail to prevent an injury at heights of less than 12 ft OR that static rope could produce 1200lbs of shock with falls of less than 6ft. Incidents of deaths and other injuries were at unacceptable levels. ACCT has changed all that by replacing the mindset  of "I am correct because I said so" with the mindset of "We are the most correct because our information is the most factual to date based on industry consensus". Insurance Underwriters now / today rate the threat of injury for team course activity at less than that of the sport of Billiards.

The Insurance Industry is experiencing this same kind of chaos today. Many and quite possibly most actively deployed R&H adjusters out their have no idea if they are using a dynamic, low stretch or static rope, all that they know is that it is a black or a blue rope that they bought at Home Depot and that this was all that they needed to convince their employer that they were qualified for the job.