restart_alt A re-roof resets your anchor certification to zero
When the crew tears off the old system, your rooftop tieback anchors, davit bases and lifeline posts get unbolted, worked around, or reset into the new membrane. Even when they’re reinstalled, the certification that said each one holds 5,000 pounds is no longer valid — the anchors were disturbed, and nothing has load-tested them since. A brand-new roof with uncertified anchors is a compliance gap almost no board sees coming, because the roofer’s scope ended at the waterproofing. The fall-protection system on top of that new roof is a separate obligation — and it’s now yours.
help Why your roofing contractor didn’t re-certify them
It’s the first question every board asks — and the honest answer is that it was never the roofer’s job, for four stacking reasons:
It’s a licensed-engineer job, not a roofing job. Load-testing and certifying an anchor takes a PE stamp. Roofers aren’t PEs, and it isn’t in their contract.
Re-attaching an anchor isn’t re-certifying it. Bolting it back through the new roof doesn’t prove it still holds 5,000 lbs. Only a load test does.
The permit covers the roof, not the anchors. The building inspector signs off on the roof system — no one checks the anchors’ capacity. It falls through the cracks.
OSHA puts the duty on the owner. The written certification is the building owner’s responsibility — so unless the board hired someone specifically, it didn’t happen.
gavel The OSHA codes a re-roof puts you under
Once the anchors are disturbed and uncertified, four standards are in play — each with a specific reason a post-re-roof building is exposed:
1910.27(b)(1)Rope descent
The building owner must give each contractor written certification that every anchorage was identified, tested and maintained to hold ≥ 5,000 lb per worker — based on an annual inspection and a load test at least every 10 years.
Why you’re exposed the re-roof disturbed and reinstalled the anchors, so there’s no current test on file — you can’t hand a window-washing or facade crew the certification OSHA requires before they tie off.
1910.140(c)(13)Anchorage strength
Every personal fall-arrest anchorage must support 5,000 lb per attached worker — or be engineered to a 2:1 safety factor under a qualified person’s supervision.
Why you’re exposed a reinstalled anchor that was never load-tested can’t be shown to meet the 5,000-lb / 2:1 requirement — so any harness clipped to it is on a non-compliant anchor.
1910.28(b)(1)Fall protection
Anyone on the roof exposed to an edge 4 ft or more above a lower level must be protected — a compliant tie-off anchorage is one of the required means.
Why you’re exposed with no certified anchorage, there’s no compliant point for a worker on your new roof to tie off to — the fall-protection system is incomplete.
1910.22(d)(1)Maintenance
Walking-working surfaces — and the safety systems on them — must be inspected regularly and maintained in a safe condition.
Why you’re exposed the anchor system was disturbed by the re-roof and never re-inspected or re-certified — by definition it’s no longer maintained to a documented safe condition.
warning What it costs to skip it
The day a window-washer, HVAC tech, or facade inspector clips into an anchor that was never re-certified, the association owns the liability — even though it’s a contractor’s worker on the roof. That’s OSHA’s multi-employer citation doctrine: the controlling employer gets cited for the exposure it created.
Per item, before any injury liability, litigation, or insurance fallout. Testing and certifying is the cheap side of that ledger.
event_repeat A re-roof doesn’t reset your Milestone or SIRS clock
Boards sometimes assume a big roof project counts toward their structural compliance. It doesn’t. Florida’s Milestone Inspection (FS 553.899) for buildings three or more habitable stories, and the Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS), are separate obligations on their own deadlines — a new roof satisfies neither. Since we’re already on your roof to certify the anchors, we’ll flag exactly where you stand on both. Map every date on our compliance calendar.
timeline Test, certify, and fix — under one contract
You just invested in a new roof; don’t leave a compliance hole on top of it. La Gala crews map and inspect every rooftop anchor, then proof-load test each one to ANSI/IWCA I-14.1 and ASME A120.1; our licensed Florida PE partner reviews and seals the certification that goes into your building records; and if an anchor fails, is corroded, or is missing, the same crew self-performs the corrective work — no chasing a separate engineer and contractor. Then we keep you on an annual recertification cadence so a passing roof stays a passing roof. See the full standards on our roof anchor certification overview.
Just re-roofed? Get certified before the next crew steps onto your roof.
We test, PE-certify, and fix your rooftop anchors under one contract — anywhere in Miami-Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach. Start with a comprehensive, no-obligation rooftop assessment, or call and we’ll scope it on the spot.