GB2128653A

GB2128653A - Safety rail

Info

Publication number: GB2128653A
Application number: GB08230230A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Edward Angus; Maurice O'callaghan; John Arthur Abnett
Original assignee: WALSALL METROPOLITAN BOROUGH
Current assignee: WALSALL METROPOLITAN BOROUGH
Priority date: 1982-10-22
Filing date: 1982-10-22
Publication date: 1984-05-02
Also published as: GB2128653B

Abstract

A temporary safety rail 19 is provided around the periphery of a roof 11 by fixing brackets 15 to a wall adjacent to the roof. There is temporarily mounted in each bracket a respective pole 18 which supports the safety rail. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Temporary safety rail for roof of a building The present invention concerns the provision of a temporary safety rail adjacent to the periphery of a roof of a building. Such provision of a safety rail is necessary when maintenance or repair work is to be carried out on a roof.

It has been common for a scaffold to be erected from the ground to a level somewhat above that of the roof of a building, in order to provide a temporary safety rail adjacent to the periphery of the roof. The safety rail is incorporated in the scaffold. However, this procedure increases to an unacceptable level the cost of carrying out minor repairs or other work of short duration on the roof.

An alternative procedure, which has also been practiced in the past, is to erect on the roof itself a structure which incorporates a safety rail adjacent to the periphery of the roof. This procedure can be less expensive than the erection of a scaffold from the ground but the structure impedes or prevents access to certain parts of the roof, particularly to the periphery of the roof. There is then a temptation for workmen to remove the temporary safety rail whilst work is carried out so that there is no real benefit from erection of the temporary safety rail.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a building comprising walls and a roof wherein there is provided on one of the walls at the outside of the building a plurality of brackets which are spaced apart horizontally and are fixed with respect to the wall, there is releasably mounted in each bracket a respective pole which extends from the bracket upwardly to a level above a top of the wall and the poles collectively support at a level about the top of the wall one or more transverse members.

The or each transverse member of a building in accordance with the invention acts as a safety rail for the roof of the building. However, when work on the roof has been completed, the transverse members and poles can be removed and used on another building. It is envisaged that the brackets would remain as permanent components of the building, to be used on each occasion when a safety rail for the roof is required.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a device for supporting a safety rail above the top of a wall, the device comprising a bracket which defines an aperture, a pole having an end portion adapted to be inserted through the aperture and an abutment adapted to engage the bracket when the end portion has been inserted through the aperture and to limit movement of the pole through the aperture.

The invention also includes a method of providing temporarily a safety rail adjacent to the periphery of a roof of a building wherein a plurality of brackets are fixed with respect to a wall of the building, a respective pole is mounted in each bracket and extends therefrom to a level above the top of the wall, the safety rail is mounted on a plurality of the poles and subsequently the rail is removed from the poles and substantially the rail is removed from the poles and the poles are removed from the brackets but the brackets are left on the wall for use on any subsequent occasion when a safety rail is required adjacent to the periphery of the roof.

An example of a building in accordance with the first aspect of the invention and incorparating a device in accordance with the invention will now be described, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Figure 1 shows a cross-section in a vertical plane through a part of the building adjacent to the periphery of a roof of the building; and Figure 2 shows a fragmentary cross-section on the line Il-Il of Figure 1.

The building comprises masonry walls, one external wall being indicated by the reference numeral 10 in the drawing. The building has a flat roof 11 and the top 12 of the wall lies at a level somewhat above the roof, the wall forming a low parapet around the roof. Alternatively, the roof may rest on the top of the wall.

The wall 10 is a cavity wall comprising an inner leaf 13 and an outer leaf 14 constructed of bricks or similar units of masonry bedded in a mortar.

There is provided on the wall 10 at a position near to the top of the wall a bracket 1 5 which protrudes from the external face of the wall. The bracket comprises two mutually orthogonal limbs, one of which, 1 6 is substantially vertical and is disposed within the cavity of the wall 10 in faceto-face contact with the other leaf 14, whilst the other limb, 17, is substantially horizontal and extends from the cavity through a joint between adjacent courses of bricks in the outer leaf 14 with a free end portion of the limb 1 7 projecting from the wall. The bracket may be formed by bending metal strip or bar to form a right angle.

The bracket is preferably formed of a non-ferrous metal which will not deteriorate significantly when exposed to the atmosphere for a number of years. Alternatively, the bracket could be formed of steel and provided with a protective coating.

The building further comprises a pole 1 8 which is supported by the bracket 1 5 and which is substantially vertical with a substantial proportion of the length of the pole lying above the level of the top 12 of the wall.

Further brackets, identical with the bracket 15, are provided on the wall 10 at the same level and at positions which are spaced apart horizontally by a distance which is typically in the region of two metre. A pole, identical with the pole 18, is supported by each bracket. The poles collectively support at a level above the top 12 of the wall a transverse member 1 9 which acts as a safety rail.

The member 1 9 is conveniently formed of metal tube and may be mounted on the poles 18 by means of scaffold clamps 20 or like devices. If required, a larger number of safety rails may be provided, one above the other.

There is on the pole 1 8 at a position between its ends an abutment in the form of a plate 21.

The abutment and pole are preferably formed of metal and the abutment is permanently secured in place on the pole, for example by welding.

There is in the free end portion of the limb 1 7 of the bracket an aperture through which a lower part 22 of the pole 18 extends so that the abutment 21 rests on the upwardly facing surface of the limb 17.

There is mounted in the part 22 of the pole, adjacent to a lower end of the pole, an adjustable stop 23 which projects from the pole in a direction transverse to the length of the pole and bears against the external surface of the wall 10 to limit approach of the lower end of the pole towards the wall. The stop 23 may be in the form of a screw engaged with a threaded bore of a bush 24 fixediy secured to the pole. Adjacent to its lower end, the pole 18 is partly cut away to enable the screw 23 and adjacent end portion the pole to pass through the aperture in the limb 1 7 of the bracket.

There is on the abutment plate 21 a retaining element 25 which is integral with the abutment plate and includes a lip 26 spaced downwardly from the lower surface of the abutment plate by a distance slightly in excess of the thickness of the limb 17 of the bracket. As shown in the drawing, a lip 26 overlaps the lower surface of the abutment plate and, when the pole 1 8 is in its normal position of use, the lower surface of the limb 17. The aperture in the limb 1 7 is somewhat nearer to the sides of the limb than to the free end of the limb. Accordingly, if the pole 18 is rotated about its longitudinal axis, the lip 26 can be moved to a position at the side of the limb 1 7 and out of overlapping relation with the lower surface of the limb.The pole 1 8 can then be withdrawn from the aperture in the bracket.

When the pole 1 8 is assembled with the bracket 1 5, rotation of the pole relative to the bracket is restricted by the retaining element 26 and also by a lug 27 which extends downwardly from the abutment plate 21 at a position on the periphery of that plate and spaced from the retaining element 25. The lug 27 may normally abut the external face of the wall 10.

The aperture of the limb 1 7 of the bracket, and therefore the adjacent part of the pole 1 8, is preferably not more than 50 mm distant from the external surface of the wall 10. The stop 23 is typically spaced 300 mm from the plate 21. In a case where there is no part of the wall or roof projecting outwardly from the exposed face of the leaf 14 at the top of the wall, the limb 17 and the screw 23 may be shorter than those shown in the drawing.

The bracket 1 5 may be incorporated in the wall 10 when the latter is built. In a case where brackets are not incorporated in the wall of a building during construction, the brackets may be applied to the wall subsequently. In a case where the wall has an outer leaf of bricks or other masonry elements, one of these is removed at a position where each bracket is to be provided, the limb 16 of the bracket is inserted through the opening thus formed into the cavity of the wall and the brick is then replaced. Generally, no further provision for securing the brackets in the wall is necessary. In the case of walls having a construction which renders this procedure unsuitable, the brackets may be attached to the external surface of the wall by means of suitable fasteners.In this latter case, the brackets would preferably have a relatively short horizontal limb.

Once the brackets have been incorporated in the wall, a temporary hand rail can quickly be erected by the following procedure and subsequently removed by reversing the procedure.

An end portion 22 of each of a number of poles is inserted by a workman standing or kneeling on the roof 11 through the aperture in the limb 1 7 of a respective bracket so that the abutment plate 21 comes to rest on the bracket with the lip 26 at one side of the bracket and the lip 26 at a level slightly below the limb 17. The pole is then turned about its longitudinal axis through an angle of approximately 90 until the retaining element 25 is at the free end of the bracket and the lip 26 overlaps with the underside of the limb 17. This may also bring both the lug 27 and the screw 23 into close proximity to or contact with the external surface of the wall 10. If necessary, the position of the screw 23 relative to the pole can be adjusted by withdrawing the pole from the bracket, effecting adjustment of the screw while the pole is on the roof and then inserting the pole into the aperture of the bracket once more. When each pole has been mounted in the required position, the hand rail 19 is mounted on a plurality of the poles by means of the clamps 20.

If requuired a toe-board may be secured to the poles, for example in a case where the roof extends over the top of the wall.

Claims

1. A building comprising walls and a roof wherein there is provided on one of the walls at the outside of the building a plurality of brackets which are spaced apart horizontally and are fixed with respect to the wall, there is releasably mounted in each bracket a respective pole which extends from the bracket upwardly to a level above a top of the wall and the poles collectively support at a level above the top of the wall one or more transverse members.

2. A building according to Claim 1 wherein each bracket defines an aperture through which an end portion of the corresponding pole extends.

3. A building according to Claim 2 wherein there is on each pole an abutment which engages the corresponding bracket to limit movement of the pole through the aperture.

4. A building according to Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the aperture is not more than 50 mm from an outside face of the wall.

5. A device for supporting a safety rail above the top of a wall, the device comprising a bracket which defines an aperture and a pole having an end portion adapted to be inserted through the aperture of the bracket and an abutment adapted to engage the bracket when the end portion has been inserted through the aperture to limit movement of the pole through the aperture.

6. A building according to Claim 3 or Claim 4 or a device according to Claim 5 wherein there is provided on the pole a retaining element which moves past the bracket when the end portion of the pole is inserted through the aperture and the abutment is engaged with the bracket and wherein a part of the bracket can be received in a gap between the abutment and the retaining element by turning the pole in the aperture whilst the abutment remains engaged with the bracket.

7. A building according to any one of Claims 2, 3, 4 and 6 or a device according to Claim 5 or Claim 6 wherein there is provided on said end portion of the pole adjacent to a free end thereof an adjustable stop which is adapted to limit movement of the end portion towards the wall and can be set to maintain a space between the end portion and the wall.

8. A building or a device according to Claim 7 wherein a part of the end portion adjacent to the free end is tapered and the adjustable stop is carried by the tapered part.

9. A building according to any one Claims 1 to 4 and 6 to 8 wherein the wall defines a cavity, the bracket comprises two limbs, one limb is disposea with in the cavity and the other limb extends through an outer leaf of the wall.

10. A method of providing temporarily a safety rail adjacent to the periphery of a roof of a building wherein a plurality of brackets are fixed with respect to a wall of the building, a respective pole is mounted in each bracket and extends therefrom to a level above the top of the wall, the safety rail is mounted on a plurality of the poles and subsequently the safety rail is removed from the poles and the poles are removed from the brackets but the brackets are left on the wall for use on any subsequent occasion when a safety rail is required adjacent to the periphery of the roof.

1 A method of providing a safety rail substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

1 2. A device substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawing.

1 3. Any novel feature or novel combination of features disclosed herein and/or in the accompanying drawing.