Advertising Installation on Buildings With Fall Protection Problems

The crew arrives at the building. The photographs looked normal, the quotation was accepted, and the date was agreed. On site, it turns out that the roof is a large surface covered with an EPDM membrane, with no load-bearing elements at all. The parapet is 20 cm high and made of porous cellular concrete, and there is no way to reach the installation zone other than from the roof above a glazed atrium. There are no anchor points and no possibility of setting up fall protection in the standard way.

This is not a marginal scenario. It is a regular problem in advertising installation at height, especially on buildings from recent decades, where designers focused on the appearance of the façade rather than on future maintenance.

What Does a “Fall Protection Problem” Mean in Advertising Installation?

A fall protection problem is any situation in which it is not possible to safely set up an anchor point for a rope access technician above the work zone, or where existing building elements do not have sufficient load-bearing capacity to serve as anchors.

Fall protection is not an element that can be skipped or simplified. Every rope access job requires reliable anchor positions: at least one working anchor and one safety anchor, each with a minimum load capacity of 12 kN for individual systems. When a building does not meet these requirements in a standard way, it is necessary to find an alternative solution or change the working method.

No Anchor Points, Weak Façade, Complex Geometry: The Most Common Cases

Several recurring types of fall protection problems emerge from the practical experience of rope access crews.

Flat roofs with membranes and no load-bearing elements are common in modern office and retail buildings. They often have flat roofs covered with bituminous or EPDM membranes, with no railings, no technical stacks, and no installations. In such cases, the only option may be temporary anchors screwed or driven into the roof structure, provided that the roof’s load-bearing layer allows this.

Parapets made of low-strength materials such as cellular concrete, old hollow blocks, or thin sheet metal are not suitable for anchoring. Attempting to use them as fall protection points is a serious risk.

Complex façade geometry occurs in buildings with changes in height, recesses, overhangs, or façades set in several planes. Such geometry makes it difficult to position ropes so that the technician can reach the work area without the risk of striking an obstacle in the event of a fall.

Façades above areas that cannot be accessed from above include advertisements placed on a wall above a glass roof, over running pipelines, or above a main entrance with a canopy that cannot support the technician’s load.

Buildings with roofs that cannot be accessed without special permissions or approvals may include rooftop mobile phone or power installations that restrict access or require shutdowns.

How Are Safe Access Options Assessed?

The assessment takes place in several steps.

Analysis of documentation and photographs involves checking photographs of the roof, façade, and surroundings of the building for visible load-bearing elements, parapet condition, and building geometry.

A site visit is carried out for buildings with visible problems or when documentation is insufficient. On-site assessment makes it possible to check the actual load-bearing capacity of the parapet, roof accessibility, and rope routing options.

Design of the fall protection system is prepared for non-standard buildings. It specifies where temporary anchors will be installed, how the working rope and safety rope will be routed, and where the technician will enter the vertical section.

The key question during assessment is whether there is any structure above the work zone capable of transferring the dynamic load of a rope access technician. The answer determines the direction of the solution.

Temporary Fall Protection Solutions and Alternative Fixing Points

When standard anchoring to the parapet or roof elements is impossible, temporary solutions are used.

Ballasted beams are steel or aluminium beams placed on the roof with ballast, such as concrete blocks or sandbags. The system does not require interference with the roof, because anchoring force is based on the weight of the ballast. It is used on membrane roofs and in places where drilling is not allowed.

Anchoring through the roof into the structure may be possible where there is access to the attic. An anchor can be passed through the roof layer and fixed into a structural beam or slab. This requires knowledge of the building structure and often the property manager’s approval.

Screw or helical anchors are screwed into the ground or into low-grade concrete elements if the ground or concrete provides sufficient load-bearing capacity. Their suitability depends on pull-out test results.

Fall protection from an adjacent storey or window is possible in some cases, where an anchor point can be set up on a higher storey or the rope can be routed through a window. This depends on the building geometry and the possibility of internal access.

Every temporary solution must be tested before use, regardless of the method. A load test or load-bearing capacity calculation is standard, not optional.

How to Avoid Damaging the Façade During Advertising Installation

When installing advertising on a façade, the risk of damaging the substrate is real, especially when the façade is old, brittle, or made of materials requiring care. Several rules help minimize this risk.

Selecting anchors according to the substrate material is essential. A different type of anchor is used for concrete, another for clinker, and another for mineral render. Using an anchor unsuitable for the substrate may result in a section of the façade being torn out under load.

Drilling at the correct speed and without impact in delicate materials is important because mineral render and old fired brick react differently from concrete. Impact drilling in brittle materials breaks up the hole and damages the substrate structure.

Protecting rope edges is required wherever working and safety ropes run over a roof edge or through openings. They must be routed through protectors. A rope rubbing against sharp concrete or sheet metal not only damages itself, but also destroys the façade edge.

Avoiding work on icy or damp façades reduces the risk of local detachment. Expanding ice in render cracks or around anchors may cause local separation. Work should not be carried out at temperatures close to zero if the façade is damp.

When Is a Change of Installation Technology Necessary?

Rope access is not always possible or safe. A change of technology is necessary when:

•there is no possibility of setting up a safe anchor point above the work zone, neither standard nor temporary;

•the façade geometry makes it impossible to route ropes safely without the risk of contact with an obstacle in the event of a fall;

•the scope of work requires many hours of static work in one place, which is far more efficient from a scaffolding platform or aerial lift basket;

•the façade is so fragile that any rope work, including vibration, friction, or point loads, may damage the substrate or the advertising fixing system.

Changing the technology is a decision that a reliable contractor makes at the assessment stage, not during the work. Our article on requirements for advertising installation on façades describes in more detail what a technical assessment before the assignment should look like.

Example Checklist of Data for Technical Consultation

If you suspect that your building may have a fall protection problem, prepare the following before the consultation:

•photographs of the roof, including a top view from satellite images and ground-level photographs showing the parapet profile;

•photographs of the roof edge on the planned installation side, taken from as close a perspective as possible so that the parapet material and the presence or absence of railings are visible;

•information on whether the roof is accessible from the staircase or requires keys and approvals from the property manager;

•a description of the façade material; if you do not know exactly, a close-up photograph will help with assessment;

•information about rooftop installations, such as antennas, air-conditioning units, and solar panels;

•photographs of the building surroundings, showing what is below the wall where the advertisement is to be installed.

The more data you provide, the more precise the assessment of possibilities and potential alternative solutions will be.

Why Do Difficult Buildings Require an Experienced Crew?

Fall protection problems require non-standard solutions, and these can only be properly designed with the right experience and knowledge of technical possibilities. A crew that has worked only on typical buildings for years may not have experience in designing fall protection systems for difficult buildings. It may reject the assignment or, worse, accept it and solve the problem with a makeshift approach.

Rope access qualifications, such as rope access work qualifications at least at IRATA Level 2 standard, include the ability to plan and carry out work in non-standard conditions. This is one of the criteria that distinguishes a professional rope access company from a company that “also works at height.”

A difficult building can be handled. It simply requires more time for assessment, a more detailed fall protection system design, and a crew experienced in non-standard projects. Send photographs of the building and describe what you can see on the roof. That is enough for an initial assessment of feasibility.