The present invention concerns an anchoring device for anti-fall safety systems, to be applied to the fretted metal sheets of roofing, said device being designed to distribute the impulsive load, due to accidental fall of an operator, preventing concentrated loads on said sheets of roofing.

The lifeline (according to the standard UNI EN 795) is a set of anchorages arranged at a height on roofings, onto which the operators hook themselves via harnesses and corresponding cords.

To enable the operator to move, the anchorage is constituted by a rope stretched over purposely provided supports. In this way, it is sufficient for the operator to hook his harness onto the aforesaid rope, via a purposely provided spring catch set at the end of a cord connected to the harness itself, to be able to move nimbly along a path parallel to the rope itself Toy simply getting the spring catch to slide along the rope .

In the case of accidental fall, this will be arrested by the anti-fall safety system.

In order to reduce the stresses both on the structural elements of the system, and hence on the roofing itself, and on the harness, and hence on the operator, damping means are provided designed to reduce considerably the stresses and prevent arrests of the fall that are too sharp.

In practice, these are elements that are engaged to the cord that connects the harness to the rope or to elements that are engaged to the anchorage of the lifeline, on one side, and to the rope, on the other, which exert the damping action by lengthening.

However, it should be borne in mind that roofings are frequently made of fretted sheets or sandwich panels, the skins of which are constituted by two thin sheets, one of which is fretted, and the core of which is made of a rigid polyurethane foam. This type of roofing has met with particular success because these panels are particularly rigid and hence require only a few anchoring points. Furthermore, they are very light so that they are easy to handle. Finally, they present very good thermal insulation.

The overall rigidity is, however, offset by a poor strength of the sheet, which has a thickness of just a few tenths of a millimetre, in regard to concentrated loads. It is hence extremely problematical to fix the anchorages of the lifeline, considering that, in the case of fall of the operator, they are subject to high impulsive loads.

To reduce stresses, currently elements made up of a number of, plane and non-plane, plates are used, which are pre-perforated by the manufacturer of said plates to take into account the geometry of the sheet of roofing, and which, in the case of impulsive loads, do not guarantee undeformability of the underlying sheet of roofing. Alternatively, posts fixed to the load-bearing structure of the roofing are used, which, however, require cutting of the sheet of roofing to allow the post to come out.

The present invention solves the problem posed by proposing an anchoring device for anti-fall safety systems in accordance with Claim 1, characterized in that it comprises:

a metal sectional element, made in which is a threaded hole, or welded on which is an element with a threaded hole, said metal sectional element being welded to a first plate; and

a second plate, having a surface greater than that of said first plate, to which said first plate is fixed, said second plate then being fixed to said fretted metal sheet of roofing;

said threaded hole being suitable for receiving an eye- bolt, or other statically equivalent element (perforated plate plus bolt, etc.) engaged to which is the aforesaid safety harness or a lifeline.

In the case of fall of the operator, the entire system is subject to an impulsive load, which is discharged on said first plate and is then transmitted to the fretted metal sheet of roofing through said second plate. The second plate will distribute the stress over the fretted metal sheet of roofing in such a way that it can be withstood without the fretted metal sheet itself undergoing deformation.

The invention will now be described, by way of illustrative and non-limiting example, according to a preferred embodiment and with reference to the attached figures, wherein:

• Figure 1 shows the anchoring device according to the invention in three orthogonal views; and

• Figure 2 shows the anchoring device mounted on a roofing. With reference to Figures 1 and 2, designated by (1) is an anchoring device according to the invention. According to a preferred embodiment, this device (1) comprises a U-shaped metal sectional element (2) welded, preferably via the arms of said U, on a first plate (3) , which is fixed, preferably by means of rivets or statically equivalent elements (nails, self- drilling screws, welds, etc.), to a second plate (4), said second plate (4) having a surface greater than that of said first plate (3) .

On said U-shaped sectional element (2), which is welded on said first plate (3) so as to expose the back upwards, a threaded hole (5) is made therein or an element with a threaded hole (5) is welded thereon so that it is possible to screw into the latter an eye- bolt (6) or a statically equivalent element (perforated plate plus bolt, etc.). Obviously, the thickness of this metal sectional element (2) will be such as to receive adequately an eye-bolt (6) , or a statically equivalent element (perforated plate plus bolt, etc.), suitable for withstanding the impulsive load of the fall. Alternatively, an element with a threaded hole (5) having an adequate strength is welded to the metal sectional element (2) .

According to a preferred embodiment, the second plate (4) is not previously perforated, but is perforated only at the moment of installation so that it can be adapted to the specific profile to which it is to be coupled. Once the holes have been made, the plate (4) will be fixed with rivets to the external plate of the fretted sheet, interposing sealing material so as not to jeopardize water-proofing of the roofing.

The anchoring device (1) may advantageously be made of galvanized steel or, if a particular resistance to corrosion is required, of stainless steel or aluminium alloy.

Figure 2 illustrates the anchoring device (1) mounted on a fretted metal sheet of roofing (7) . As may be seen from the drawing, resting of the bottom sheet (4) of the device (1) does not involve the entire surface of the sheet (4) itself, but only some lines. The holes for fixing via rivets to the fretted metal sheet of roofing (7) will hence be made at the moment of installation of the anchorages, taking into account the effective geometry of the fretted sheet.

To the eye-bolt (6), or other statically equivalent element (perforated plate plus bolt, etc.), screwed in the threaded hole (5), the harness (not represented) that is worn ^' by the operating staff working at a height, or a lifeline, is then engaged. Said harness is connected to the eye-bolt or to the lifeline via a cord (8) and with interposition of a damping device (9), or via a retractile device provided with a damping device, designed to reduce considerably stresses and prevent arrests of a fall that are too sharp .

As emerges clearly from the foregoing description, in particular as shown in the attached drawings, the impulsive load is transferred from the harness to the eye-bolt (6), or other statically equivalent element (perforated plate plus bolt, etc.), screwed in the threaded hole (5) made on the back of the U-shaped sectional element (2), or screwed in the element with threaded hole (5) fixed on the back of the U-shaped sectional element (2).

The sectional element (2) may have a U-section or other statically equivalent section (full square section, hollow square section, full rectangular section, hollow rectangular section, omega-shaped section, I-shaped section, etc.).

The system constituted by the eye-bolt (6) or other statically equivalent element (perforated plate plus bolt, etc.) and by the sectional element (2) is designed to withstand the impulsive load given that it is extremely sturdy in so far as it is made of steel of adequate thickness. This first sheet (3), to which the sectional element (2) is welded, hence has the function of distributing the load over said second sheet (4), which has a wider surface and which will distribute the load over the fretted metal sheet of roofing (7) to which it is connected.

The load that in this way reaches the sheet of roofing (7) is sufficiently low as to be withstood by the fretted metal sheet of roofing (7) without the latter undergoing deformation.

From what has been described so far, it emerges clearly how said threaded hole (5) is suited to receiving an eye-bolt (6) or a statically equivalent element (perforated plate plus bolt, etc.) engaged to which is said safety harness or else a lifeline or which is traversed by the rope of a lifeline (intermediate post) . The invention has been described purely by way of illustrative and non-limiting example according to a preferred embodiment. The person skilled in the sector may devise numerous other embodiments, all of which fall within the sphere of protection of the annexed claims .