Overview of the Inspections Department highlighting its role in ensuring the safety and compliance of fall arrest and tie-back anchors for window washing and fall protection systems

Pro-Bel’s Inspections Department: Ensuring Safety and Compliance

The Inspections Department at Pro-Bel is an integral part of our company. It is dedicated to ensuring that fall arrest and tie-back anchors (for window washing systems and fall protection equipment) are inspected annually in accordance with manufacturer recommendations and Department/Ministry of Labour regulations. The Department ensures annual inspections of fall arrest and tie-back anchors, promoting safety for high-rise workers.

Image of a Compliance Specialist conducting an inspection, reviewing safety and structural conditions

Our Mission and Expertise

Our mission in this department is two-fold:

  1. To develop first-hand experience and maintain an expert team of competent fall protection inspectors in this highly specialized field, thereby ensuring smooth information exchange that may affect the liability or safety of buildings.
  2. The Department must report on safety issues that may affect the safety of the professional high-rise workers and the public.

To meet this mission statement, the department pro-actively promotes annual inspection programs, which include:

  • Deficiency inspections,
  • Compliance inspections and
  • Rigging inspections;

The Department/Ministry of Labour’s (DOL/MOL) input through site inspections and published guidelines supports them all. This collaborative involvement allows the agency (DOL/MOL) and all contractors to work more harmoniously and safely using the equipment.

Team Composition and Expertise

The Inspections Department comprises dozens of professionals, including trained inspectors, compliance specialists, testing technicians, and professional engineers. The Department also upgrades existing systems if needed, working closely with system designers and the operational teams as required.

It also calls on the expertise of almost 150 skilled members of various Departments, which may include AutoCAD designers, manufacturing, and installation as required on a job-to-job basis.

Critical Components of the Inspections Department

Besides the general staff listed above, this Department includes and relies on five other major components:

1) Chief Executive Officer (CEO): The CEO is responsible for formulating policy and providing the Inspections Department with first-hand compliance information. This executive direction is derived from the CEO’s experience dealing with the DOL/MOL, personally guiding the removal of Stop Work Orders (SWO) on buildings. In addition to direct supervision, the CEO provides overall executive direction and broad administrative supervision for this Department.

2) Compliance Specialist (CS): reviews, routes, and tracks hazardous or potentially hazardous safety and structural conditions. The CS’s staff is on call to respond to SWOs or other safety and rigging issues or emergencies. They can flag system conditions commonly cited by DOL/MOL Inspectors or other sources, such as building inspections or technical auditors. The CS evaluates all conditions, including a review of site conditions, drawings, inspectors’ reports, and photographs of the roof and conditions. Subsequently, a “flag report packet” may be created, describing the type of upgrade or repair needed (which may also include changes to the certified drawings or require a DOL/MOL response report for removal, review, and approval).

3) In-house Maintenance Technicians and skilled Installation Personnel perform repairs to address flagged conditions. Flagged repairs may include structural or other safety issues, such as repairing roof anchors, davit arms, safety tethers or locks, or other components damaged by corrosion or accident impact. The maintenance and installation staff will perform the required corrective repair to help rehabilitate worn or defective components whose failure could affect long-term service (such as heat shrink, mastic, cap flashings, or remedial rust repair work).

4) Professional Engineering and Design Group: provides technical expertise in standard engineering practices and principles, including reviewing the structure, preparing calculations, and writing job-specific test prescriptions.  The team also supplies invaluable engineering declarations for unsafe conditions that may affect the system.  The Professional Engineering Group member will make recommendations for immediate remediation, thereby assisting the CS in facilitating a proper solution. The Professional Engineering group also provides technical expertise in procurement and development of system design and product development, supporting various division areas, including supervision of installation and inspection services.

5) Administration Management & Invoicing Group: provides essential administrative and inspection process support, including tracking each division’s activity.  The Senior Administration and Finance Group oversees and administers all administrative functions for the division, acting as liaison with the inspectors and technicians, including, but not limited to:

  • Reviewing reports for completeness to ensure compliance and functionality is clear
  • Reviewing lists of equipment to ensure they match  drawings for quality control purposes
  • Tracking documents and publishing control documents to our web-based customer portal
  • Monitoring staff and supervising repairs flagged by inspectors or compliance specialists
  • Scheduling work performed by Pro-Bel installers or other contractors and producing mandated modification and repair reports on all activities
  • Managing the status of each warranty claim and ensuring products are tracked and replaced through our Pro-Bel case system
  • Ensuring all on-site inspections are performed on time and that the field conditions are recorded

The Inspections Department management takes a proactive approach to educating Building Owners and Property Managers and training workers and contractors to use equipment safely on roofs.

This professional Inspection Department will ensure a smooth yearly inspection process. Each highly specialized area is designed to address the essential services necessary to provide the expert service that our clients and industry expect.

To ensure critical safety measures and due diligence on your rooftop, please contact Pro-Bel for annual inspections, testing, safety assessments, rigging inspections, or site training.

Ensure Safety and Compliance with Pro-Bel’s Inspection Services.