NZ554898A - Building with a safety line attached and supported by guttering to prevent a person from falling - Google Patents

Abstract

This discloses a building 2 fitted with a safety line, the safety line running along and within the guttering 3, 5 which form part of the building and secured to the building 2 directly or indirectly at intervals 8. The safety line is arranged so that it can withstand the full body weight of an average sized adult 11in case the adult 11 were to fall from the roof.

Description

1 *10053588770* Patents Form No. 5 554898 THE PATENTS ACT 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION SAFETY MEANS I, DARRYLL LAWRENCE HEAVEN, a New Zealand citizen, of 524 Swanson Road, Ranui, Auckland, New Zealand, hereby declare this invention for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be 30 performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: intellectual property office of n.z. -2 MAY 2007 RECEIVED 2 Title Safety means.

Field of Invention This invention relates to means for safely accessing elevated parts of a building. Background It is known to use ladders to access elevated parts of buildings, for example a house roof. In such situations, a work person can incur injury if his or her weight 10 shifts, causing the ladder to tip away from the building with the resulting fall. It is accordingly an object of a preferred form of the present invention to go at least some way towards addressing this problem.

The term "comprising" or derivatives thereof, if and when used in this document 15 should be interpreted non-exclusively, eg to mean "consisting of or including".

Summary of the Invention According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of stabilising a ladder with respect to a building, comprising the steps of: attaching a length of flexible safety line to a building such that the line is elevated and runs substantially horizontally, arranging a ladder in an upright disposition with respect to the building, arranging an upper part of the ladder with respect to the line such that the line prevents the ladder from tipping away from the building when a work 25 person is standing on the ladder.

Preferably the safety line comprises wire.

Preferably the safety line is attached to the building by way of fixing members set 30 at intervals along the safety line.

Preferably the fixing members proceed through loops created in the safety line as a result of twisting the safety line back on itself at intervals. intellectual property OFFICE OF N.Z. * 10 JUL 2008 received 3 Preferably the fixing members assist in supporting drainage guttering belonging to the building.

Preferably a cross line is attached to the safety line, the cross line also being 5 attached to the building or to a stationary object, in either case remote from the safety line.

Preferably the cross line is attached to a second safety line arranged at an opposite side of the building in a substantially similar manner to the first 10 mentioned safety line.

Preferably there is an attachment line safely connecting the work person to the cross line.

According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a ladder arranged according to a method according to any one of the preceding claims.

According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a building fitted with a safety line, the safety line running along and within guttering forming part 20 of the building and secured to the building directly or indirectly at intervals, the safety line arranged such that it can withstand the full body weight of an average sized adult in the event that such adult were to rely on it to break his or her fall from a roof adjacent to the guttering.

Preferably the building has a second safety line arranged substantially as described in the immediately preceding paragraph but within guttering adjacent another part of the building.

Preferably the, or each (as the case may be), safety line is fitted to the building by 30 way of fixing members used to support the guttering with respect to the building.

Preferably the, or each (as the case may be), safety line is attached to the fixing members through loops created in the line, such loops receiving the fixing members.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE OF N.Z.

JUL 2008 received 4 Description of the Drawings I Images Some preferred forms of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a building with a ladder safety arrangement, Figure 2 is a view of a manner of attaching part of a safety line adjacent to drainage guttering, and Figure 3 is a cross section view of the drainage guttering showing the safety line secured to a building.

Detailed Description Referring to figure 1, a ladder 1 can be stabilised with respect to a building 2 by attaching a length of flexible safety line 3 to the building. The safety line 3 is preferably wire, e.g. galvanised wire, and is attached to the building adjacent to its barge board 4 which is behind the building's drainage guttering 5. The safety line 3 is attached to the barge board 4 with fixing members, e.g. stainless steel 20 screws 6.

Figures 1, 2 and 3 show the safety line 3 attached to the barge board by way of the screws 6, set at intervals along the line. The screws 6 proceed through loops/eyelets 7 created in the line 3 as a result of twisting 8 the line 3 back on 25 itself at intervals.

According to figure 1, the screws 6 may assist in supporting drainage guttering 5 belonging to the building by also proceeding into the support brackets 9 forming part of the guttering 5. In this way the positions at which the safety line 3 is fixed 30 to the building may determine the intervals between the brackets 9 on the barge board. The flexible line 3 may be installed before or after the drainage guttering is installed. As shown in figure 1, the ladder 1 may be hooked over the drainage guttering 5 and be attached to the flexible line 3 to enhance ladder stability. {intellectual property office of n.z. " 2 MAY 2007 received Referring to figure 1, a cross line 10 is attached, at one of its ends, to the safety line 3, and the other end of the cross line 10 is attached to the opposite side of the building 1, or alternatively to a stationary remote object if preferred. For 5 example, the cross line 10 may be attached to a further safety line 3' arranged on the other side of the building in similar fashion to the first mentioned safety line 3. The cross line 10 is preferably also made of wire, e.g. galvanised wire. A work person 11 can be attached to the cross line 10 by way of a short attachment line 11a and a harness 12. The attachment line 11a may or may not be capable of 10 sliding along the cross line 10 to enhance easy movement of the work person. Preferably the cross line 10 engages the first and/or second safety lines 3, 3' reasonably centrally, eg inside several of the screws 6, so that there is more than one screw 6 to break the fall of the work person falling from the ladder, should that occur.

Optionally the safety line 3 runs along and within the guttering 5 as is shown in figure 3. This ensures that the line 3 is kept tidily out of sight when the guttering is viewed from ground level. In some embodiments of the invention the safety line 3 may run along a and within a rolled over lip of the guttering, ie as shown in 20 figure 3.

While some preferred forms of the invention have been described by way of example it should "be appreciated that modifications and improvements can occur without departing from the scope of the following claims. "2 MAY 2007 [received

Claims (9)

6 What I Claim Is

1. A building fitted with a safety line, the safety line running along and within 5 guttering forming part of the building and secured to the building directly or indirectly at intervals, the safety line arranged such that it can withstand the full body weight of an average sized adult in the event that such adult were to rely on it to break his or her fall from a roof adjacent to the guttering. 10

2. A building according to claim 1, having a second safety line arranged substantially as described in claim 1 but within guttering adjacent another part of the building.

3. A building according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the or each (as the case may 15 be) safety line is fitted to the building by way of fixing members used to support the guttering with respect to the building.

4. A building according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the or each (as the case may be) safety line is attached to the building by way of fixing members which 20 proceed through respective loops created in the line.

5. A building according to claim 4, wherein the loops are a result of twisting the safety line back on itself at intervals. 25 6. A building according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a cross line is attached to the safety line mentioned in claim 1, the cross line also being attached to the building or to a stationary object, in either case the point of attachment to the building or object being remote from the safety line. 30 7. A building according to claim 2, 3, 4 or 5 wherein a cross line is attached to the safety line mentioned in claim 1, the cross line also being attached to the second safety line. intellectual property

OFFICE OF N.Z. t 0 JUL 2008 received

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8. A building according to claim 6, wherein there is an attachment line safely connecting a work person to the cross line.

9. A building according to claim 7, wherein there is an attachment line safely 5 connecting a work person to the cross line. et© OF CLAIMS 10 *»ktr\ \11 w DARRYLL LAWRENCE HEAVEN By His Attorney A.J. Pietras & Co intellectual property office of n.z. I 0 JUL 2008 received