Fall protection specialist Kee Safety supplied its Kee Walk® roof safety equipment to the biggest airport terminal in Spain, offering full protection for those accessing and working on the uniquely designed sloping roof.
The Madrid Barajas Airport is a major European transport hub as a 21st century facility, serving Madrid in Spain. At 3,050 ha (7,500 acres) in area it is the largest airport in Europe by physical size, in 2015 the airport handled almost 47 million passengers, and this grew to 50.4 million in 2016 making the Madrid Barajas Airport the Spain’s largest and busiest airport, and Europe’s sixth busiest.
The roof is a key element in the building’s stunning visual aesthetic. While it tops off the building perfectly, the sloping surface presented a potential safety issue for those who have to access the roof for routine maintenance. Due to this concern, Kee Safety were contracted to supply approximately 7500 linear metres of its Kee Walk® product to offer a permanent and safe roof top walkway solution.
“We were delighted to be contracted for this internationally prestigious project” explains John Ingram, Global Fall Protection Product Manager at Kee Safety. “The roof is undulating so needed a solution which was flexible enough to cope with an array of different slope angles whilst complying with the latest EN standards, on the contractors side they needed confidence that the six month timescale from order placement to completion was achievable. Kee Walk® was ideal; a modular system, no bespoke parts and each section delivered to site fully assembled to provide a level, anti-slip walking surface that is lightweight and does not penetrate or damage the roof.
Kee Walk® is the only system of its type which complies fully with the harmonised European Standard EN 516:2006 (Prefabricated Accessories for Roofing – Installations for roof access – Walkways, treads and steps) which became mandatory in January 2006. It exceeds the deflection criteria and slip resistance requirements of this standard and achieves almost double the friction requirement of BS 4592 in both wet and dry conditions.
For full details on Kee Walk® and the company’s range of Fall Protection Systems, including roof top guardrails, horizontal life lines, skylight fall protection and roof light covers visit www.keesafety.co.uk. Full technical support and advice on walkway requirements is available direct from the company. …