Kee Safety
Guardrails vs. Lifelines: Which Fall Protection System Is Right for Your Roof?
Roof-mounted fall protection isn’t just a compliance checkbox—it’s about understanding risk, assigning responsibility, and protecting people. This new Industry Insight from Kee Safety helps facility and property managers evaluate passive vs. active systems and determine which solution best fits their building-use, access frequency, and risk profile.
Key Takeaways
- Passive systems (guardrails) provide constant protection without relying on user behavior—ideal for high-traffic roofs or varied user populations.
- Active systems (lifelines) offer flexibility, but shift the burden to individuals (training, PPE, correct connection) and introduce risk of user error.
- A hybrid strategy may be the best choice: deploy guardrails in frequently accessed zones, and use lifelines where access is intermittent or space is constrained.
- Considerations for decision-makers include access frequency, user training/turnover, maintenance burden, clearance requirements, and long-term costs.
Why It Matters
Choosing the wrong rooftop fall-protection system can increase liability, increase administrative overhead, and degrade safety performance. This paper features practical risk assessment guidance and highlights how anchoring the choice in facility realities—not just product features—leads to safer outcomes.
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