Handling roofing materials in an efficient manner is a very important part of Bloom Roofing's business.
"Boom trucks allow us to get things up high in a hurry," Kyle Menard, president of Bloom Roofing, of Ann Arbor, said.
"Dealing with height is always an issue. From our perspective, the more we can control the material management, the better for us. We're a little unique in the industry because we own two boom trucks. That means that we have the ability to schedule and manage several projects where boom trucks are required."
Bloom Roofing owns a Western Star tractor with a Tadano TM-1882, 18-ton crane and a Sterling LT 9513 tractor with a National 9103A, 26-ton crane.
"With our boom trucks, we have more control of the job and the site because we're not subject to someone else's schedule. We are able to manage with our own equipment up to a 100-foot range. When we deal with high rises above that level, we must use a freight elevator, or we might rent a crane," Menard said.
"Many contractors have boom trucks. Ours are the latest with regard to safety and the amount of material that they can manage. Our boom trucks allow us to manage the material in a safe, flexible format. They provide us with the ability to safely manage not only the new material going on the roof, but also the old material coming off of the roof."
Boom truck operators for Bloom Roofing must be members of the International Union of Operating Engineers and they are highly trained. Some operator training is done outside of Bloom Roofing.
"Their main certification comes through their union training," Menard said, "but all of our truck operators are also tested and managed through our internal program. Specifically, our employees have special training in the safe management and operation of a boom truck," Menard said.
"Again, safety is very important at Bloom Roofing. Each of our projects includes a designated safety person on the roof, who works specifically on site and rooftop management. That includes protecting the premises. It's very important to our customers that we offer that service as a standard service. The on-site safety monitor monitors all of the activity on the ground and on the roof.
"The boom truck is a large piece of equipment. We do all sorts of setups where there might be fencing cordoning off all of the material area. We rent large protective pads to protect the ground so that we don't damage pavement and landscaping. That's all part of the site-specific safety plan put together by our safety officer." Bloom also takes measures to protect its employees and employees in the building.
"A big part of every one of our safety plans is that it is site specific to protect, for example, pedestrian traffic, that doesn't work for Bloom Roofing. So, anyone going in and out of the building is important, the building is important, the grounds are important, and, obviously, our people on the roof fall under the veil of our safety program as well."
