snow removal for your business

With the recent winter storms hitting all over, heavy snow can cause damage not only to home roofs, but businesses as well. Being a northeast regional broker, our customers are located in cities like Buffalo, Rochester and even on Long Island where we have seen heavy snowfall during the winter months that bring exposures to your buildings and operations. Below are some tips to consider why snow removal for businesses can help protect against roof collapses from winter storms.

Prepare Before The Storm
First, know how much snow your building can safely handle. Understand that building codes and design criteria based on building usage vary across the United States. A licensed structural engineer can help you determine the snow load design for your building, and if any improvements are needed to help prevent a future collapse. If it was built recently, this information may be available from your general contractor.

  • Consider any weight that may have been added to the roof since its original design. This could include HVAC units, new roof coverings, solar panels or hanging equipment from the roof steel
  • Be aware of the potential for drifting snow, especially in windy areas, which could result from new additions with different roof heights or large roof-mounted signs
  • Inspect the roof and structure (inside and out) for any damage, such as cracks or corrosion
  • Inspect all roof drains and gutters to ensure they are clear of any debris. Ice accumulation along the eave can contribute to roof collapses
  • If your building has a wood bowstring truss roof, be aware that this type of roof is historically prone to failure, particularly due to truss deterioration where it meets the wall. A structural engineer should inspect these types of roofs on a periodic basis
  • If your building has a structural standing-seam metal roof and was built before the year 2000, a design weakness may be present
  • Pre-engineered metal buildings with structural standing-seam metal roofs can be particularly susceptible to collapse from excess snow loading

Develop Your Snow Removal Plan

  • Start with a monitoring system to help you determine when to start snow removal
  • Establish action points so the snow load is not allowed to get so high that it becomes unsafe to get on the roof
  • Decide whether you will remove the snow or if you will hire a contractor to perform the work
  • If you decide to do the work yourself, you need to ensure you have appropriately trained individuals on hand to safely perform this work and the proper equipment to avoid damaging the roof covering
  • If you decide to have a contractor do the work, have them sign the contract early and make sure they can respond quickly to your call. Make sure the contract has appropriate risk transfer language and that the contractor has adequate insurance coverage to do this work. Our commercial insurance team can help you determine what is adequate for your exposure.

A structural engineer and roofing contractor should review your snow removal plan to help ensure that it does not increase the danger of collapse or cause damage to the roof covering, and is conducted in a manner that is safe for those working on the roof. For example:

  • Use of equipment such as large snow blowers on an already heavily snow-loaded roof may present an excessive load
  • Snow removal should be done in a manner that keeps the roof load as symmetrical as possible
  • Metal shovels or ice chippers could damage the roof covering and allow leakage, wetting of insulation and damage to building contents

Create Your Contingency Plan
You cannot go wrong by being prepared for the worst. Develop plans to help protect your building and equipment, including business continuity plans. Clearly identify shut-off valves for utilities, such as gas, water and electricity. If your building is protected by automatic sprinkler systems and the system needs to be turned off and drained, due to the potential for imminent roof collapse, it is important to eliminate all possible sources of ignition. Possible sources of ignition may include, but are not limited to: smoking, heating equipment, electric lighting and power systems, and maintenance activities involving cutting, welding, grinding or similar hot work. Contact the fire department and your insurance broker.
After the plan has been implemented, evaluate its effectiveness and make any necessary changes.

To make sure you have a proper plan in place to keep your building safe during winter storms, talk to our risk management and business insurance departments.

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