In the past two weeks I’ve written up three roofs for unprotected skylights and unlabeled anchors during quick HVAC visits. OSHA 1910.28 treats every skylight as a hole, so how are you getting crews to use covers or guardrails — or stay 100% tied off — on these “five‑minute” tasks without blowing the schedule?
how are you getting crews to use covers or guardrails — or stay Agree on the timing — ugh, we killed the five-minute excuse with a stop-clock rule and a photo-gate: no cover/guardrail pic, no closeout. Each truck carries a five-minute bag with a collapsible screen and a pre-cut plywood cover, so dropping it takes under 60 seconds — would that fly on your quick HVAC calls with unlabeled anchors?
My take: I’d lean toward the simplest next step and see if it changes anything this week — if not, you’ve got a clear case to escalate. What would block you from trying that?
Quick example: we put a flat-pack, cam-strap skylight cover in every HVAC bag and made “cover before tools” the first step; techs scan the cover tag in the work-order app, adds about 90 seconds and keeps us inside https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.28… If the dome looks brittle or oddly tall, we skip the cover and go temp anchor instead — would a scan-to-start gate fly with your crews?
What worked for us was bundling permanent clamp-on skylight screens into the first service visit — one flat-rate kit per opening — so later HVAC pop-ins don’t need covers or guardrails and still meet 1910.28 (https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.28). Small caveat: we skip brittle domes or funky curbs and revert to PFAS. Would your clients accept a small per-skylight add if you frame it as “every skylight as a hole” compliance plus faster callbacks?