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Rooftop equipment for telecommunications (i.e. "telco" or "telcom") presents unusual challenges for both safety managers and telco technicians. They must at once maintain the same rooftop safety equipment standards as for any working flat roof environment, while also preventing signal interference.
The issue is, preventing radio frequency interference (RFI) requires eliminating stainless steel and other metals from their roof fall protection system, which has proven extremely difficult until recently.
It's important to avoid any temptation to take sub-par safety measures whenever safety and technical standards conflict with each other. This is often the case with rooftop-mounted telco equipment, which may transform the surrounding area into an RF-sensitive environment.
Industrial fiberglass guardrails fulfill the same duties to have fall protection and design standards as metal railing, and without contributing to RFI. That's only true, of course, for fiberglass guardrails built to the same technical standards as any OSHA-compliant guardrail:
OSHA 1910.29(b), for general industry (i.e., standard, ongoing rooftop activities)
OSHA 1926.502(b), for construction operations (sometimes invoking a fine line between regularly scheduled maintenance vs extensive repairs and alterations)
In addition to RFI considerations, industrial fiberglass guardrails also carry several important material advantages over steel:
Only one-fourth the weight
Well over 10 times the strength-to-weight ratio of steel
Better corrosion resistance, including from chloride (a common deicer)
Little-to-no thermal and electrical conductivity, preventing burns and electric shocks
Greater flexibility, reducing the chance of bending
Less slippery, even in inclement weather
Further, telco machine hazards are very different from standard rooftop equipment, due to a range of atypical design elements:
Odd shapes
Higher voltages
Taller structures
More sensitive electronics
Unfamiliarity among regular maintenance crews
Particularly high-powered telco equipment can also induce thermal effects in the environment, making mostly non-conductive fiberglass devices the ideal solution for reducing the risk of burns.
As far as technical servicing, most telco equipment requires:
Frequent servicing, testing, and adjustment
Specialized testing and repair equipment
Equipment designed for tall heights (such as scissor lifts, hoisting or lifting equipment, etc.)
Wider barrier perimeters to protect workers from EMF
Extensive signage, both for safety reasons and to indicate system connectivity and device type
Complex networks of long electrical conduits and terminals
Controls for high voltage risks, where electrically conductive safety materials are themselves a hazard
It's further important to ensure any fiberglass roof fall protection system is designed with electrical engineering functions in mind. While itself an extensive topic, keep in mind that industrial fiberglass guardrail layouts may need to be different for any of:
Electric equipment operating at 50+ volts, requiring one of several allowable types of enclosures (per OSHA 1910.303[g][2][i]).
Circuitry exceeding 600 volts, nominal, which carry many other considerations for enclosures or barriers (see subsection 1910.303[h][2]).
Outdoor installations with exposed live parts that cannot be accessible to unqualified employees, per subsection (h)(2)(iv).
Machine guarding for exposed energized parts over 600 volts, invoking wider perimeters than normal machine guarding requirements. Section 1910.303(h)(3) outlines specifications for minimum clear work spaces (at over 600 volts, nominal), including taller-than-average barrier heights.
1910.303(h)(4)(i) requires at least one entrance to the working space of at least 2 ft (0.6 m) wide and 6.5 ft (1.98 m) tall. This usually invokes the need for fiberglass gates to maintain the RFI-free environment.
For these reasons and more, fixed-installation guardrails can block access to telco devices or otherwise inhibit maintenance. Standard steel construction also contributes to much greater risks of electric shocks. While less electrically conductive aluminum options are available, they also won't mitigate RFI.
This is just a small list of considerations that make self-closing fiberglass gates and movable, non-penetrating fiberglass railing the ideal choice to accommodate both safety and service requirements for live telco equipment.
When designing telco rooftop safety equipment, always consult your specific OSHA, CCOHS, or state plan regulations, based on your exact applications. Further, Telco installations may invoke a flurry of FCC regulations, requiring even more diligent attention to balance an extremely complex interplay of safety, technical, and legal requirements.
The ability to quickly adjust industrial fiberglass guardrail systems, and without reducing their effectiveness, carries enormous benefits, and virtually no disadvantage whatsoever.
This is true even for guardrails supporting standard rooftop functions, such as routine HVAC or roof repairs; and it's all the truer for servicing telco devices, which contain sensitive electronics, have more unusual shapes, and present unfamiliar safety hazards.
The need for site-wide RFI controls cannot be overstated. Innumerable devices and applications dispersed across wide geographical areas depend on clear signal-to-noise ratios from telco devices, which are frequently mounted on commercial rooftops. Preventing signal interference at the source is paramount.
It all begins with protecting the telco equipment itself, which is both highly sensitive and valuable. Comprehensive protection of outdoor telco equipment thus depends on a much higher threshold of protection, such as from:
Storms and temperature extremes
Theft and vandalism
Falling branches
Nearby construction debris
Improper servicing (often necessitating separation of standard and live machine parts)
More than any rooftop maintenance function, telco service is always in flux – meaning your roof fall protection system should be, too. Contrary to certain misconceptions about modular safety equipment, modularity actually improves safety by ensuring workers can more easily adapt their safety equipment around workflow dependencies.
This prevents workers from taking shortcuts or non-compliant workarounds in response to unexpectedly sophisticated work functions. As mentioned, standard telco device operation may itself require adjusting the fiberglass roof fall protection system, such as when voltage supplies change, live energized parts become exposed, or when high-EMF zones fluctuate.
Modular guardrails and other rooftop safety equipment are founded on a design philosophy emphasizing fluid workflows and adaptability, which carries several key benefits:
Non-destructive installations that don't pierce the roof's surface
Option to set railing aside when installing or uninstalling large equipment or using mobile machinery
Ability to move railing further away from a telco device emitting higher EMF (such as signal-boosting antennae)
Easy and fast hand-tool installation, to support smooth and efficient workflows
There are even side-wall installation modular guardrails for space-restricted environments. This is the best way to accommodate robust, fully compliant fiberglass barriers where a space cannot accommodate baseplates for non-penetrating railing solutions.
As part of the Tractel lineage of fall protection manufacturing leaders, BlueWater is constantly innovating new ways to protect workers across virtually all sectors. That includes sophisticated electrical and RF applications, where it's necessary to prevent workplace injuries and equipment damage alike – and all while heeding some of the most extensive technical and legal standards of any commercial industry.
We've designed our fiberglass gates and industrial fiberglass guardrail systems to meet the widest range of telco safety concerns on rooftop environments, and our engineers can create fully custom solutions for your exact needs. Contact us to request a quote or learn more.
