Health & Safety Update (January 2009)

Working on Roofs

Falls account for more deaths and serious injuries in construction than anything else and roofers account for 24% of those people who are killed in all falls from height.

The HSE have published a revised leaflet aimed at people who carry out roof work or are directly responsible for managing or supervising it. It sets out key safeguards, noting that falls occur:

• from the edges of roofs;
• through gaps or holes in roofs;
• through fragile roof materials and roof lights.

In addition, many people have been seriously injured by material falling or thrown from roofs.

Accidents do not just happen to those building roofs, but also to people maintaining, cleaning, demolishing and inspecting them. The leaflet sets out precautions that are relevant for all roof work and then describes precautions that are particularly relevant to different types of roof.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 set out a hierarchy which should be followed when planning any work at height. The hierarchy should be followed systematically and only when one level is not reasonably practicable may the next level down be considered.

Those planning work at height must:

• avoid work at height where they can;
• use work equipment or other measures to prevent falls where work at height cannot be avoided;
• where they cannot eliminate the risk of a fall, use work equipment or other measures to minimise the distance and consequences of a fall should one occur.

Those in control of the work must also:

• always consider measures that protect all those at risk, ie: collective protection systems such as scaffolds, nets, soft landing systems, before measures that only protect the individual, ie: personal protection measures such as harnesses;
• always consider passive systems such as nets (where the individual does not have to do anything to activate the system) before active systems such as harnesses (where the worker has to clip on);
• make sure work is carried out only when weather conditions do not endanger the health and safety of workers.

The leaflet goes on to cover the following:

• precautions for all roof work (including risk assessment and method statements);
• fragile roofs;
• working on sloping roofs;
• industrial roofing;
• working on flat roofs. 

The leaflet is available at:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg284.pdf