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The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) is reminding employers, self-employed and employees of the dangers of roof work.
In recent months here, falls through roofs of buildings led to two deaths in separate accidents, tragically underlining the dangers of roof work. These deaths came after two others in 2013 in similar circumstances.
All roof work is a high risk activity, not only during construction but also when getting onto existing roofs for any length of time - including for a few minutes to ‘have a look’ or carry out a small repair. So, always consider whether it is really necessary to go onto the roof at all.
The main dangers are falls through fragile roofing materials and falls from unprotected edges.
In most cases simple physical protection measures can prevent accidents, but too often a lack of foresight and poor management control means that protection is neglected during the high risk work.
A safe place of work, including safe access, must be provided for all roof work. There is a clear hierarchy of control measures as outlined in HSG 33 – Health and Safety in roof work. These must be followed systematically and only when one level is not reasonably practicable should you consider the next level down.
Planning
Planning is vital to ensure safety in roof work, from short-duration work like replacing a few tiles on a house, to the demolition of an existing building.
As part of the planning process you must consider the requirements in the Work at Height Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005.
During planning, consider if you can avoid working at height. You could use a mobile elevating work platform (MEWP), a telescopic pole with camera attachment or binoculars from a safe position on an adjacent building to carry out an inspection
Where work at height cannot be avoided, consider the following safety measures:
• use an existing (950 mm minimum height) parapet wall
• erect edge protection
• use a MEWP to carry out the work or
• use a work-restraint system
If you cannot eliminate the risk of a fall, use equipment to minimise the potential consequences, for example nets, air or bean bags, or a fall-arrest harness system.
Practical guidance is contained in the HSE publication ‘Health and Safety in roof work’ (HSG 33) which is available to download free of charge.
Risk assessment
You should carry out a risk assessment for all roof work and while some jobs may not require a great deal, more complex jobs need to be assessed in greater depth.
You must identify risks before work starts and ensure that necessary equipment, appropriate precautions and systems of work are provided and implemented.
Supervision during the work is also required to check that the correct procedures are followed.
Except for the simplest jobs, where the necessary precautions are straightforward and can be easily repeated (like using a proper roofing ladder to replace a ridge tile) you should prepare safety method statements. These should be specific and relevant to the job in hand and clearly describe the precautions and system of work identified during risk assessment. Diagrams or pictures can often say more and be clearer than text.
Everyone involved in the work needs to know what the method statement says and what they have to do. This might need someone to explain the statement for more complicated jobs.
Finally, the client or customer must make sure that the individual or company they have employed to carry out roof work is competent to do so and is aware of the hazards and precautions to be taken for the work to be carried out safely.
More information
• Working on roofs INDG 284: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg284.pdf
• Health and Safety in Roof Work HSG 33: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg33.pdf
• Fragile roofs safe working practices GEIS 5: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/geis5.pdf
• Roof repair work, what you need ot know as a busy builder:
