New Products

Even if the latest HSE statistics on falls from height continued to go down in 2006, there is still a need for new safety measures to reduce the figures still further.
The Redland Safety Hook System from Lafarge Roofing is designed to do just that. It is a system that combines a ladder
hook and crawling board clamp.
This is specially designed for contractors to use quickly and easily with a wide range of popular Redland tiles and slates
to safely attach roof ladders, support work platforms or use as a structural anchorage point for safety belts and harnesses.
A body harness line is simply clicked in to safely arrest any accidental fall. With this system, you’re guaranteed multi-
directional protection from falls at the eaves, verges and over the ridge. Laboratory tests proved the system’s compliance
with EN 517-B, EN 795 and BS 7883, and ensured the system is capable of taking a single 2.6kN static load with an EN355
energy-absorber harness. Lafarge Bramac’s components specialist Herbert Hatzmann proved on a real roof that’s more
than enough for his bodyweight.
The system is manufactured from tough galvanised steel and secured by durable stainless steel fixings to remain in top condition for the lifespan of the roof. Like all Redland products, it is backed by a 15-year guarantee. It is supplied as a simple five-component kit to fit directly to a rafter by 100mm-wide brackets, connected by a 625mm-long fixing rail – all developed from what has already been widely adopted in housing across Austria, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany.
It actually began life in 1990 on a designer’s computer screen as a CAD concept for roofing components to combine a
barrier against the Scandinavian hazard of snow loads with use as a safety hook.

The unique galvanised steel mounting bracket was then immediately seen as a basis upon which to develop a solution to
new safety regulations in Austria. These demanded safety hooks for the first time to serve all around a roof at the ridge, as well as at the eaves and verge. Those regulations evolved into the European Directive 92/57/ EEC, which contributes to the
rest of Europe’s much more demanding safety standards both in ongoing property maintenance, as well as for the initial roof installation. Whilst British construction regulations are yet to demand as much detail in safety levels as elsewhere in Europe, our roofing industry can have immediate access to the very products that make those higher standards a reality on site with Lafarge’s new safety hook. And the company’s Technical Solutions team is already geared up to advise exactly how best to install the system within specific roof designs.