Kevin Sensenig, VP and part owner of R. L. Sensenig Co (roofing), fell through a decayed roof deck and died yesterday. We’ve worked with Kevin and Sensenig Roofing on many projects, he’s a great guy and they do wonderful work.

Starting a project at the Hill School in Pottsville, PA, Kevin apparently was walking on the roof, showing one of his crews what needed to be done. Kevin ran operations. According to the Reading Eagle article, the guys on the crew were wearing fall protection harnesses and tied off. As Kevin and the foreman walked the flat roof, the deck collapsed and Kevin fell 50′ to his death, while the foreman hung from his fall protection. The approximately 6′ x 9′ area of collapsed roof is shown in the photo below.

Most of the news articles lead with the fact that Kevin wasn’t wearing a fall protection harness. He was walking on a flat roof, not near an edge, few people I know would have been wearing a harness in that situation. He wasn’t on the work crew, he was giving them initial directions. But yet, in this instance, wearing the fall protection harness would probably have saved his life.

So how safe is safe enough? We work in a dangerous business. We are up high and in enclosed spaces. We build things that are stable when complete but not while being built. While everyone praises safe work, how much inconvenience will we accept? That’s the struggle we face every day. I know Kevin’s tragedy motivates me to struggle to push for more safety measures.

I’ll be praying for the Sensenig family to have a strength and a peace through this challenging time. I’ll be praying for me to have wisdom to push for the best decisions on our job sites.

Dereck Hench, the construction supervisor I work with every day, spoke of Kevin Sensenig with the highest respect. We all will miss him.