Stainless Steel Roof Safety Mesh: The Safest Option for Roof Installers on the Market

Stainless steel is best practice against corrosion and withstands the Australian environment. Galvanised products corrode and cannot provide adequate protection. Stainless Steel is a safer and longer lasting alternative for your assets.

What is Stainless Steel Roof Safety Mesh?

Roof Safety Mesh is designed to prevent internal falls through a roof. It provides fall protection for roof installers and offers long-term protection against falling for maintenance and repair workers.

Why can Galvanised Roof Safety Mesh be a problem?

Stainless Steel is best practice for Australia’s harsh environments. This image at Brighton Beach, Victoria demonstrates the problems with galvanised roof safety mesh. The mesh is exposed to harsh coastal conditions, it has corroded and rusted overtime and will need to be replaced.

Stainless Steel is corrosion resistant and strong. It will last the life of the building, and requires minimal maintenance in return for long lasting, superior quality performance. Asset life cycle cost can be reduced by design for reliability, stainless steel roof safety mesh is a great example of this.

Australian Standards

The safe work Australia code of practice for Managing the Risks of Falls at Workplace instructs that roof safety mesh should comply with AS/NZS 4389:2015 Safety Mesh and be installed by competent people in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions.

✔ AS/NZS 4389:2015
SSWM Roof Safety Mesh exceeds technical requirements & complies to load testing

• Tensile strength of our wire is a minimum 600Mpa exceeding requirement of 450Mpa

✔ AS 2331.3.1:2001 (R2017)
SSWM PVC Coated Roof Safety Mesh is tested to 96 hours ‘Neutral Salt Spray Test’

Why is Stainless Steel Superior?

Stainless Steel has excellent properties compared to other products and has the longest life. Stainless Steel Roof Safety Mesh will last as long as your roof and will deliver the safety performance requirements over time. Unlike alternative products, such as galvanised, stainless steel is not a surface coating, and its properties cannot be damaged during transport, installation or operation.

When you consider the costs of Stainless Steel Roof Safety Mesh over time as a percentage when installing on new facilities, it will become the obvious choice. It will last the life of the building, meaning there will be no need to inspect or replace over time. This can save you thousands of dollars on inspections and maintenance. In addition, it will give you peace of mind that you have used a product that will make your facility safer when people are working on the roof.

Applications

Stainless Steel Roof Safety Mesh is commonly used for roofing critical assets and infrastructure. Especially in highly corrosive environments common applications include:

• Warehouses
• Factories
• Shopping Centres
• Schools
• Office Buildings
• Sheds

Why did SSWM develop PVC coated Stainless Steel Roof Safety Mesh?

Stainless Steel Roof Safety Mesh can also be coated in poly-vinyl chloride (PVC) and to further withstand UV rays, it has a UV stabiliser added. PVC prevents the galvanic reaction between dissimilar metals.  The flexible coating will bend without cracking - and even if the PVC coating is damaged, the stainless steel will not corrode.

Further information: ASSDA FAQ on Galvanic / Dissimilar Metal Corrosion

Why you should be specifying Stainless Steel Roof Safety Mesh for your next project?

Make the decision on your next build to use Stainless Steel Roof Safety Mesh and save time and money while making it safer for all. Using Stainless Steel Roof Safety Mesh to prevent falls from heights is best practice on every level.

For further information visit: SSWM Roof Safety Mesh or contact our technical sales team at [email protected] or 1300 305 148

References
For more information:

Victoria
Work Safe Victoria: Prevention of falls in general construction

NSW
Work Cover NSW: Safe work on roofs
Part 1: Commercial and Industrial buildings

AUSTRALIA- National
Safe Work Australia: National code of practice for the prevention of falls in general construction

Appendix E of the WorkSafe Victoria document “Prevention of Falls in General Construction” describes the installation of safety mesh