Roof anchor and eyebolt testing

Anchors clamped to a profiled or standing seam roof sheet, and free-standing anchors held down by weights, are tested or checked as their maker's instructions say. Ask the maker before putting a pull tester on one, and ask us whether a Staht kit fits it.

Commissioning. A new system is inspected in place before anyone uses it. Where the designer asks for proof tests of the anchors, they are done now, and the results go into the system's technical file.

Periodic inspection. At the interval set by the system's examination scheme and its maker's instructions. The law sets no fixed period; it says "suitable intervals" for equipment that can deteriorate.

After an event. After exceptional circumstances liable to jeopardise the system's safety, such as a fall arrested on it or damage from work on the roof around it.

BSI's summary of BS 7883:2019 says it gives example inspection criteria, the result categories pass, conditional pass, conditional fail and fail, and examples of how proof test loads are worked out.

The load the system's designer or maker gives, or the examination scheme sets. It depends on the anchor, the base material and what the anchor is for, so this page gives no single figure. For an anchor used for rope access, IRATA's code recommends a 6 kN proof load at detailed inspection: see rope access anchor points.

1. Secure the kit. Clip the tester to its tool lanyard and the spanner to the wrist lanyard before you lift either.
2. Connect. Fit the clevis to the eyebolt's eye, or the jaw and the right washer to the anchor's thread.
3. Stand the bridge square. Set the legs so the pull is along the anchor's axis. On uneven roofs and walls, the 3 leg adaptor, 100 mm leg extensions and spreader plates help.
4. Load steadily. Watch the live load and stop at the test load; the screen holds the peak.
5. Look and record. Check the anchor and the surface around it, and record the result with a photo and a map pin in Staht Connect.

A contractor has fitted 20 eyebolts into a concrete parapet for a roof's fall arrest system. Before handover:

1. The designer's test plan gives the proof load and how many to test; here, all 20.
2. Each eyebolt gets a reference that matches the roof plan in the system's file.
3. Each is loaded through the clevis on a t25 to the designer's load, held as the plan says, then checked for movement or damage.
4. Each result is recorded against its reference, with a photo.
5. The records go into the system technical file, and nobody uses the system until the inspection is complete.

For each anchor: its reference and position, what it is, the load applied and how long it was held, what was seen, and the result. For the visit: the date, the inspector, the tester's make, serial number and calibration date. The latest result is kept until the next inspection is recorded. Our free proof load test record has these fields.

• Height safety: the law and standards for anchor points
• Eyebolt and fall arrest anchor testing: the kit
• Horizontal lifelines
• Connecting a tester to the anchor