Roof Trusses, Worker Training, and Roof Collapse Accident Injuries

Continued from Part 2. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for workers assembling and installing pre-fabricated or pre-engineered structures to disregard some or all of the manufacturer’s instructions. The roof collapse injury lawyers at Denena Points, PC emphasize that this disregard frequently leads to collapse of the structure and to severe injuries even before the building gets completed.

Manufacturers provide the instructions based on their tests of things like stress tolerances, connector strength, and support spacing to ensure the safety both of workers and those who will use the completed structure. Proper roof truss installing in a building under construction requires properly trained and skilled crewmembers to build a safe and sturdy roof support system. Part of this effort requires employers to properly train their workers. Our roof collapse injury lawyers point out that the employers must train their workers to follow manufacturers’ instructions when installing pre-engineered building elements.

Cutting or modifying a single member of a roof truss system, for instance, will compromise the structural integrity of the structure. But it won’t necessarily lead to a catastrophic roof collapse. Our roof collapse injury lawyers note that a more common contributor to collapse is improper temporary or permanent bracing against walls and girders.

Structural Elements of Roof Support

• Joist – a horizontal support beam that extends from wall to wall, from a wall to a support beam, or between two beams.
• Rafter – a sloped structural support in a roof that extends from the ridgeline down to the perimeter or eaves. A rafter serves to support the roof and its load.
• Truss – a stress bearing support member consisting of triangular units connected by straight, linear units. The construction industry uses trusses for framing roofs and for ridges. Roof trusses support and stabilize a roof structure. Trusses take the stress of the roof load off of the connecting walls.

Ceiling joists and rafters together can form triangular roof trusses. But as in the Brunswick addition, contractors can also order pre-engineered roof trusses that are made offsite. Our roof collapse injury lawyers mention that these variations in the roof framing components have a common purpose: to support the roof and any load the roof itself might bear. The intersecting angles, particularly in the triangular truss formation, distribute the stress load, rather than sending it all straight out to the walls of the structure, which would force the walls outward and apart, leading to a structural collapse.

When the roof framing arrangement does not work properly, or is improperly installed or braced, the roof might give way and collapse, as just occurred in Brunswick. Click the link to learn more about the critical importance of strong roof truss systems.