ARVADA, Colo. — As the holiday season approaches, many Coloradans find themselves on rooftops, clearing gutters or hanging lights. But for one local woman, these tasks serve as a painful reminder of the dangers of roof work.
Marcie Safe’s husband, David, fell off a roof two years ago while helping his mother clear her gutters in Highlands Ranch. The fall left him with a traumatic brain injury, and after 10 days in a coma, he passed away.
“I really, really wish I had been there, or wish that he had anchored off and used a harness so that he wouldn’t have actually fallen off the roof,” Safe said. “It was a very trying, traumatic time.”
Safe’s experience has made her an advocate for roof safety. She urges anyone working on a roof to use harnesses and anchor points to prevent similar tragedies.
“Every time I see somebody on a roof, I look for a harness and I look for an anchor point,” she said. “I would say probably 80 to 90% of the time there isn't one, and I find it very discouraging and very scary.”
While not all homes come equipped with anchor points or built-in fall protection, Safe encourages homeowners to have them added. She also suggests hiring professionals to handle the risky tasks, such as hanging lights. Federal guidelines require workers to wear harnesses when working more than six feet off the ground. They’ll often leave anchor points in place for future use.
Despite the loss, Safe continues to decorate her home in Dave’s honor, though she no longer allows anyone to work on her roof without proper safety measures.
“If anybody could be wiser for what happened to my husband, that is what I want because I don't want anybody to have to go through what we've had to go through,” she said.