Tommy the roofer falls from the roof in his dreams – work

Twenty meters above the streets of Stockholm, traffic can only be heard as a distant hiss. Tommy Henrikson leaves the roof and moves slowly towards the edge of the roof.

Once he reaches the decimeter-high protective zone that extends over the edge, he feels his feet. Every step and every movement is carefully balanced.

– Then we'll drive, old man! shouts fellow Jerry, who stays on the roof and makes sure that the rope on which Tommy Henrikson's life now hangs is taut.

Tommy misses the view

Tommy Henrikson takes the shovel and starts shoveling. Nine degrees below zero and the sun makes the snow sparkle.

Around him, the rooftops form a landscape of their own with church spires and high-rise buildings occasionally rising. Tommy Henrikson doesn't see them, he's too focused on work.

On the way down, he carefully points to the wooden steps that lead from the skylight down into the darkness of the attic. The wooden pegs nailed to a panel wall appear to be a hundred years old.

The risk of injury here is greater than on the surface. There I can concentrate for six hours, and on the way it's easy to relax.

“We know our surfaces”

Real Estate Consultants, the company where Tommy Henriksson also works and is also a co-owner, only has regular clients, mainly condominium associations in central Stockholm.

– This means we know our ceilings. We have evaluated the safety and checked where we can attach the safety line. Unfortunately, we see competitors who are not careful.

The possibility of getting quick money attracts wealth seekers. When the snow comes, property owners can have to pay tens of thousands of kroner to remove their roofs on a single occasion.

Tommy Henrikson has seen how inexperienced hired hands venture onto rooftops, sometimes without a safety line. Roof scoopers who jump between lanes on roofs may be a manifestation of macho culture.

-One time, a man slipped and ended up hanging a few meters from the edge of the roof. It took hours before his comrades picked him up.

Tommy Henrikson himself has not been involved in any serious accidents.

Our goal is to never fall off the edge, even if we have fall protection. If that happens, it is a failure, and it will be a downfall as well.

“A lot of strange dreams”

Tommy Henrikson enjoys his work and feels relaxed when he returns home.

But he also admits that surfaces are a risky environment as it's annoying to accidentally slip your foot even slightly.

– Over the years, I have spent many nights having strange dreams where I or my children fall from ceilings or high heights. Maybe this is the underlying pressure. You wake up in a cold sweat.