A roofing toe board is one of the most basic pieces of safety equipment a roofer

Roofer

A roofer specializes in roof construction, concentrating on the application of materials that water proof and / or weather proof buildings,designed material—as a substrate for the roofing materials to be installed on. The rafters, beams, and trusses are the frame or skeleton for the roof to be...

 can use. A toe board is a long piece of 2'x4' ( a 2x4) wood nailed horizontally along a roof

Roof

A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....

 in various locations. When roofers encounter a steep roof they can either wear a safety harness

Safety harness

A safety harness is a form of protective equipment designed to protect a person, animal, or object from injury or damage. The harness is an attachment between a stationary and non-stationary object and is usually fabricated from rope, cable or webbing and locking hardware...

 or nail down a toe board to the roof.

Most roofers work in a variety of weather

Weather

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

 conditions, sometimes severe heat

Heat

In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...

, and resist wearing an apparatus such as a safety harness. As a result of needing both an uncumbered work environment and the need to stay as cool as possible, roofers prefer the toe board due to its freeness of movement

Freedom of movement

Freedom of movement, mobility rights or the right to travel is a human right concept that the constitutions of numerous states respect...

. In case an accident

Accident

An accident or mishap is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity. It implies a generally negative outcome which may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its...

 does occur and a roofer loses his/her footing, the 2x4 would stop the roofer from sliding down and/or off the roof.

More deaths occur in falls that for any other reason in the construction

Construction

In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

profession.