The height of safety
George Western Foods is one of Australia’s largest consumer products companies, home to many well-loved brands including Tip Top, Abbotts Village Bakery and Golden. As part of their commitment to sustainability, they aim to generate 10% of their total electricity needs through solar power by 2025. In achieving this goal, Tip Top Bakery recently installed over 1000 solar panels on their Chullora site and approached Anchor Safe to provide a height safety system that would allow the new solar system to be installed safely. The height safety system also needed to be practical for ongoing maintenance of the solar system.
Delivering results from top to bottom
Anchor Safe visited the site to thoroughly inspect the roof and collaborated with both the client and the solar consultant to come up with a custom solution for Tip Top. Due to the planned layout of the solar system and the pitch of the roof, an abseil-rated system was required. Anchor Safe identified the rigid rail as the most practical solution, installing 288 metres of it across the roof space. To accommodate the unique roof profile, Anchor Safe collaborated with Kattsafe to design and install specialized brackets for the rail system. This installation allowed solar installers to work safely in a fall restraint position while harnessed to the rigid rail.
Anchor Safe also installed levelled aluminium walkway and guardrail for access along the base of the rooftops. Multiple step ladder and roof stair systems were also installed for access between the roof tops.
The final height safety system installed included:
- 288 metres of rigid rail
- 312 metres of levelled aluminium walkway
- 350+ metres of guardrail
- 2 step ladders
- 2 roof stair systems
The collaboration between Tip Top Bakery and Anchor Safe yielded an extremely practical and convenient system for the solar install team to use. They were able to quickly and safely install the solar system while connected to the raptor rail system and now have a practical system to maintain the solar panels long term.
