Roof Hatch Ladder Requirements

In buildings without an occupied roof access to the roof shall be permitted to be a roof hatch or trap door not less than 16 square feet 1 5m2 in area and having a minimum dimension of 2 feet 610 mm.

Roof hatch ladder requirements.

The distance from the centerline of rungs or cleats to the edge of the hatch opening on the climbing side shall be not less than 24 inches for offset wells or 30 inches for straight wells. Bilco roof hatches provide safe and convenient access to roof areas by means of an interior ladder ship stair or service stair. The minimum perpendicular distance from the centerline of the steps or rungs or grab bars or both to the nearest permanent object in back of the ladder is 7 inches 18 cm except for elevator pit ladders which have a minimum perpendicular distance of 4 5 inches 11 cm. Roof hatch design as previously mentioned roof hatches provide workers along with their tools and equipment easy access to roof areas.

A variety of special sizes are also available to provide an accessible way to install or remove large pieces of equipment from a building. Per osha 1910 23 b 4 ladder rungs steps and cleats have a minimum clear width of 16 inches measured before installation of ladder safety systems for fixed ladders. When the length of a hatch reaches 5 5 or longer a 2 point slam lock is used. The most common types of hatches that serve this purpose are single leaf models which have one cover and accommodate a single person.

Although a current osha requirement our fall protection inspection teams see ladders that do not pass the simple climbing width regulation of a minimum of 16 inches. 1009 16 2 protection at roof hatch openings. Hatches of length 4 6 or less are equipped with a 1 point zinc plated cablock and any hatch longer than this are equipped with a 2 point cablock. Counterweighted hatch covers shall open a minimum of 60 degrees from the horizontal.

Each roof hatch is tested in the plant to assure smooth opening and closing with one hand.