Roof Collapse: 4 Steps to Avoid Disastertest

November 2016

A roof collapse can shut a business down for weeks and months, not to mention the potential danger of injury or death for employees and other building occupants. Maintenance and engineering managers must avoid ignoring their roofs until something serious happens, and establish a regular maintenance schedule to keep it top of mind.

Art Valentz, founder of PHP Systems/Design, offered four tips for managers to help avoid a roof collapse in a recent facilitliesnet.com article. Click here for the entire article.

Avoid creep load. “It’s critical to remember that the engineers and architects who designed your roof designed it with very specific load-bearing capabilities,” he says. “Any changes to the load throw those calculations off and make a collapse more likely.”

Manage snow accumulation. “It’s important to get the snow off the roof as soon as possible, starting at the areas with the heaviest drifts or uneven accumulations,” Valentz says.

Keep drains clear. “Clean drains at regular intervals as well as after every storm,” he says. “And make sure that drains are not covered by equipment, repairs or anything else that could keep water from draining properly.”

Maintain, maintain, maintain. “Regular inspections and maintenance should be an inherent part of your roof management strategy,” Valentz says. “Trimming a tree branch or using professionally engineered pipe supports and monitoring their condition can prevent a lot of problems.”