Rescue officials urging property owners to remove snow from roofs

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According to the Ministry of Environment, in almost all districts of Finland - except for Southern Finland - the weight of snow is approaching the bearing capacity of roof structures.
      Finland's Environmental Administration reports that the snow load is not above average for this time of the year, but it has piled up on rooftops later than usual, as a result of the heavy precipitation at the turn of March and April.
     
By order of the Ministry of the Interior, Rescue Departments were checking the security of building roofs across the country on Monday, demanding that for the sake of public safety, snow should immediately be removed from the roofs of dozens of public buildings in various parts of Finland.
      Furthermore, the Ministry of Environment urged property owners to shovel off snow from their roofs if the thickness of snow cover has already reached the half-metre mark.
      Tauno Penttinen of Central Finland's rescue services stresses that the owners have to take care of snow removals themselves. Rescue Departments can offer help only in an emergency.
     
The heavy snow accumulated on rooftops has to be removed without delay. Later on, there will be time to consider roof structures and their design, building materials and methods, as well as security instructions.
      Particularly buildings with flat roofs as well as various sports halls and arenas are at risk of collapse under the weight of snow.
     
In Saarijärvi, north of Jyväskylä, the local rescue services visited the factory of Ariterm that manufactures boilers for buildings, after some cracks had been noticed on the concrete beam supporting the roof of the facility. Even though some snow was removed during the weekend, the cracks grew, and for the sake of safety, some 130 workers were removed from the hall. The company reports that the roof has now been strengthened by an additional support construction.
      Minister of the Environment Jan-Erik Enestam (Swedish People's Party) said that he would invite representatives from the construction branch to discuss the roofing structure collapses. A similar meeting was held in 2003 following several roofing failures.
     
Insurance companies do not have an unanimous view concerning the claims made by property owners as a result of roof collapses caused by heavy snow loads. For example, the Finnish insurance group Pohjola argues that accidents like this can hardly be regarded as unpredictable.
      However, the Tapiola insurance group is more understanding. "In a case of neglect we may refuse to cover losses due to damage caused by roofing failures. I would not say that this would ever happen in practice", says Sampo Martiskainen of Tapiola.
      Heavy snow load has caused several roofs to collapse in the course of the past couple of weeks. In addition to Central Finland, similar incidents have so far occurred in Central and Northern Ostrobothnia as well as in the district of Northern Savo.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Heavy snow loads burden rooftops in Eastern and Northern Finland (9.2.2005)

Links:
  Ministry of the Environment
  Finland´s Environmental Administration

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