A court decision involving San Diego-based contractor Bergelectric Corp. has widespread ramifications for the roofing industry. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held that rooftop installation of solar panels is not roofing work under OHSA, according to JD Supra.
In Bergelectric Corp. v. Secretary of Labor, contractor Bergelectric Corporation sought review of a final order of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, in which OSHA held that Bergelectric was required to comply with the stricter safety standards governing work on “unprotected sides and edges” as opposed to the more lenient safety standards governing “roofing work.”
While Bergelectric was performing work OSHA conducted an inspection. Bergelectric informed OSHA that they were using “warning lines” and a “safety monitor” in compliance with OSHA’s safety standard for roofing work and, further, that its employees would use personal fall arrest systems (PFAS) should they do work outside the warning lines. OSHA issued a citation alleging that Bergoelectric had violated a standard which requires employees working near unprotected sides and edges to be protected by guardrail systems, safety net systems, or PFAS.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the more stringent “unprotected sides and edges” standards applied, relying on a regulation which defines “roofing work” as the “hoisting, storage, application, and removal of roofing materials and equipment, including related insulation, sheet metal, and vapor barrier work, but not including the construction of the roof deck.” Solar panels, explained the Court, are not among the materials involved in “roofing work.” Simply put, solar panels are neither “roofing materials [or] equipment” used in the construction of a roof, such as “insulation, sheet metal [or] vapor barriers.”
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