Abstract:
A safety barrier system for use in roofing and other roof-top projects requiring perimeter safety fencing or railing. Multiple, adjustable components allow for separation of support members from a rooftop deck for application of roofing material, adaptation for installations involving a varieties of rooftop perimeter configurations and obstacles, and, in some embodiments, later reinstallation without requirements for reinstallation of building side anchor components.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to safety barriers for use in roofing and construction contexts. 
       Background Information 
       [0002]    Measures for worker fall prevention is a significant aspect of planning, outfitting, and budgeting for building construction and repair projects, including roofing and re-roofing. 
         [0003]    According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2014 alone, 660 U.S. workers suffered workplace falls. Part of this number represents 14% of all fatal workplace injuries (including from such sources as transportation-related injuries, equipment-related injury, etc). This, despite the current measures (government regulations, insurance company requirements, and property owner and/or contractor requirements) to limit fall-related dangers. Clearly, roofing-related projects involving high rise buildings and (according to regulations, even working at heights as low as 6 feet above ground level), represent significant dangers in the fall-related realm. 
         [0004]    Currently, a variety of regulations require (at a minimum) certain measures at worksites for reducing fall-related dangers. These include (among others) fencing or railing systems that are attached to a building&#39;s roof decking, at least during most of the roofing operation. A serious draw-back of existing rooftop fencing or railing systems is that they overlay, and preclude access for roofing materials application to much of the roof decking itself in the areas near roof perimeters. Only after they are removed, can the previously occupied surface area be completed. Each time a roof is to be re-surfaced, the fencing or railing system must be replaced, with the same inconveniences and expenses repeated. This also means that a significant portion of the roofing surface area must be treated, only after portions of the safety barriers are removed, thereby requiring further time, incremental roofing steps, additional, alternative safety measures, and additional project time. 
         [0005]    There is a compelling need, particularly in the commercial roofing industry, for an improved safety railing or fencing system design that minimizes interference with roofing materials application and provides cost savings compared to existing such systems, yet provides equal or better safety protection to presently available systems. Furthermore, there is a simultaneous need for such a system that is, without customization, readily adaptable to most rooftop perimeter configurations and for accommodating related obstacles (gutters, for example). 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    A safety railing or fencing system incorporating core features of the present invention will provide a number of benefits to users (workers, contractors and property owners). As illustrated by the depicted embodiments of designs incorporating features of the present invention, the present inventor&#39;s designs afford property owners and contractors with an option for providing rooftop safety fencing or railing systems that occupy minimal roof deck surface area (much less than occupied by conventional such systems). The preferred embodiment allows for the installation of the safety system by trained personnel prior to roof construction, and the system remains in place throughout the roofing, reroofing or other construction project. The system removed by trained personnel only after the project is complete. Therefore, all roof operations can be accomplished without removing the safety system providing continuous protection throughout the project. These benefits are possible subject designs allow for temporary, sequential removal of roof deck-obstructing components of the present system, such that all roofing can be completed as a single project, even while an over-all, effecting railing or fencing remains in-place. 
         [0007]    Further still, some embodiments allow for easy, non-destructive re-placement of the system at subsequent time(s) for re-roofing, replaces, etc., without having to re-install any anchoring components. This affords considerable cost savings at later dates for property owners and contractors alike, as well as reducing the inherent hazards of anchor installations by reducing the incidence of such installations. 
         [0008]    Without customization, systems according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention are readily adaptable to most rooftop perimeter configurations and for accommodating related obstacles. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a portion of a preferred embodiment of the safety barrier system of the present invention, viewed as if outside of a building at which top margin of which the system is installed, and looking upward toward the system. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a portion of a preferred embodiment of the safety barrier system of the present invention, viewed as if atop a building at which top margin of which the system is installed, and looking downward toward the system and the building&#39;s margin. 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a portion of a preferred embodiment of the safety barrier system of the present invention, viewed as if outside of a building at which top margin of which the system is installed, and looking essentially, laterally toward the system. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a partial, perspective view of the uppermost part of the cable post assembly and an engaged cable (serving as “railing”) of a preferred embodiment of the safety barrier system of the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is an elevational view of the building side anchor member and support strip of one embodiment of the safety barrier system of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0014]    Referring particularly to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , an embodiment incorporating the safety railing or fencing system components of the present inventor&#39;s designs is depicted, and referenced generally by the reference number  10  (hereafter “system”). 
         [0015]    System  10 , in a preferred embodiment, includes a building side anchor  12 , a rooftop foot member  14 , a cable post assembly  16 , a top lateral spacing arm  18 , a bottom lateral stabilizing arm  20 , an anchor engagement arm  22  and a system support assembly  24 . 
         [0016]    System  10  is adjustable to accommodate virtually any configuration of a conventional rooftop margin of any commercial building. 
         [0017]    The height of the cable post assembly  16  (for supporting the “railing” provided by cable(s)  17 —see  FIGS. 2 and 3 ) can be adjusted to meet regulation requirements for barrier height and spacing. Lateral spacing from a building&#39;s siding of system support assembly  24  is adjustable, for example, to avoid features such as the gutter  19  depicted in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         [0018]    Of significance is the adjustability of rooftop foot member  14 &#39;s engagement with collar  34  (or any provided equivalent). This arrangement allows rooftop foot member  14  for any individual system  10  unit to be raised (while leaving adjacent system  10  units&#39; rooftop foot members  14  in-place) to allow application of roofing materials, without compromising the safety railing or fencing system&#39;s integrity. Spacing of individual assemblages of system  10  will be apparent to those skilled in the art to provide adequate, regulation-prescribed force withstanding capabilities in any given jurisdiction, even when individual rooftop foot members  14  are raised for roof deck access for roofing application. 
         [0019]    For providing the optimum flexibility for system  10  as described above, substantially all components of system  10  telescopically engage with the respectively interfaced component(s) through alignment of locking holes  26  in the respectively interfaced components, and reversibly secured in-place with hitch pins  30  (or alternatives well known in the art, including pins and cotter keys and nut/bolt assemblages). 
         [0020]    More specifically, collar  28  telescopically receives rooftop foot member  14  therethrough, and supports, via a support bracket  32 , collar  34  of cable post assembly  16 . Lateral spacing arm  18  extends from collar  34  as depicted in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , and (in the depicted embodiment) telescopically extends through collar  38  of system support assembly  24 . System support assembly  24  is itself configured (in the depicted embodiment) of two, telescopically interfaced components—inner support assembly beam  40  and outer support assembly beam  42 . 
         [0021]    At the lower terminus of inner support assembly beam  40  is affixed collar  44 , through which telescopically extends bottom lateral stabilizing arm  20 . Finally, anchor engagement arm  22  (in the depicted embodiment) telescopically engages with building side anchor  12 . 
         [0022]    Clearly, the respective interfaces between engaged components of system  10  can be altered in a number of ways, yet still encompass the present invention. For example, components depicted as telescopically received within another component, can instead telescopically received such other components. Even alternative interface means may be employed, such as where juxtaposed components are secured relative to each other, not by telescopic engagement with pin or bolt-based fixing, but by securing with, for example, a component (not shown) that envelopes and reversibly secures both components, one to the other. Furthermore, some embodiments of the present invention will not require adjustability of all major component interfaces of system  10 , as is depicted in this preferred assemblage, but may only involve adjustment of the rooftop foot member  14 , for reasons described elsewhere herein. One such example may involve the merging, in effect, of modular components shown herein as the preferred embodiments as separate, adjustable components, leaving, for example, only the rooftop foot member  14  as an adjustable component for raising and lowering as described elsewhere herein. In such case, most or all of such remaining components may constitute an at least partially unitary (as opposed to modular and/or adjustable) barrier system support frame. In any event, regardless of the modularity, or not, of most of system  10 , anchor  12  will be supported by the anchor support means (webbing  23  or strip  25 ) in the way described elsewhere herein, and thereby providing the substantial benefits thereof. 
         [0023]    In addition to providing sequential, temporary access to a roof deck surface as described above in relation to the adjustability of rooftop foot member  14  (unlike existing safety railing or fencing systems that provide no such temporary or sequential access), the present system  10  (in one embodiment) provides prolonged economic and safety advantages. These advantages relate to building side anchor  12 . 
         [0024]    Referring particularly to  FIG. 5 , building side anchor  12  extends laterally, away from the side face of a building. Building side anchor  12  engages with anchor engagement arm  22 . Through the intervening, connected components of system  10 , building side anchor  12  (when secured to a structure as will be discussed below), in concert with rooftop foot member  14 &#39;s support via engagement with a substantially horizontally-oriented rooftop surface (see again  FIGS. 1 and 2 ) and lateral stabilizing arm  20 &#39;s contact with a structure&#39;s substantially vertical, side surface (see again,  FIG. 1 ), secures system  10  relative to a building, as well as resists forces that would disengage system  10  from such a building (most importantly from an accidental fall against cable(s)  17 ). 
         [0025]    Building side anchor  12  may be temporarily installed by suspending it from partially removable anchor suspension means (webbing  23 ), one embodiment of such being in the form of a strip of industrial nylon webbing that is, in turn, secured to the host structure, and through which building side anchor  12  extends (see, for example,  FIG. 1 ). With this embodiment, after a roofing project (or other project requiring temporary safety railing or fencing) is complete, the exposed portion of webbing  23  can be cut away and building side anchor  12  (along with the remainder of system  10 ) can be removed. Use of this embodiment, however, requires a new installation at the time of the next such project. Considerable, additional savings (as well as, even more importantly, avoidance of safety hazards that are inherent in installing anchors for a self-evidently, not-yet-in-place safety system) can be achieved through use of an alternative embodiment that includes static anchor suspension means to suspend and position building side anchor  12  of system  10 . Referring again particularly to  FIG. 5 , this alternative embodiment uses (instead of industrial webbing  23  as a support for building side anchor  12 ) a metallic (or equivalent, long-lasting substitute material) strip  25  that is intended to be left in-place, even after a project involving system  10  is complete. Strip  25  (from which, or through which extends building side anchor  12 ) can be installed at the first project involving use of system  10 , and can be left in-place for re-engagement of system  10  for any later such projects. 
         [0026]    Notably, whether building side anchor  12  is secured in position relative to a structure using webbing  23  (as shown, inter alia, in  FIG. 1 ), or a strip  25  (as shown in  FIG. 5 ), each may be secured to a structure in such a way that neither the installation, presence, nor removal of system  10  presents any hindrance or deleterious effect on the roofing or construction process, nor to the building itself. More specifically, both webbing  23  and strip  25  are not affixed to any exposed, exterior roofing surface, but rather is affixed to the structure preferably, for example, by attachment to a surface beneath the moisture membrane of the structure&#39;s roofing. The webbing  23  or strip  25  then extends from beneath the actual roofing material from the perimeter thereof to extend downward along the building&#39;s intersecting, vertical face, as shown in the various figures. This arrangement results in the chosen anchor suspension means having no contact with, nor obstruction of any portion of the actual roofing surface (such as would, for example, otherwise impede roofing or re-roofing operations, and require after-removal “patchwork” to complete the project. 
         [0027]    Though not depicted in the drawings, additional stabilizing means, extending between successive units of system  10 , may be added, for example, near the outer most terminus of lateral stabilizing arm  20 . This is envisioned as providing addition stability for each individual unit of system  10  as against rotation substantially about the long axis of outer support assembly beam  42 . Such is the only stabilizing effect not already provided through the combined effects of building side anchor  12  (when secured to a structure as elsewhere discussed), rooftop foot member  14 &#39;s engagement with rooftop surface and lateral stabilizing arm  20 &#39;s contact with a structure&#39;s vertical, side surface. 
         [0028]    Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limited sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments of the inventions will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon the reference to the description of the invention. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover such modifications that fall within the scope of the invention.