Roofing Risk Assessment (UK)

Roof work causes more deaths and serious injuries than almost any other construction activity. Falls from edges, through fragile surfaces and from ladders dominate the figures. A roofing risk assessment plans the job so those well known hazards are controlled before anyone goes up.

Why roofing is high risk

The HSE consistently finds roof work among the biggest causes of fatal falls, and a large share involve small, short duration jobs where people took a chance rather than set up properly. Roof work is covered by the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and the duty to plan, supervise and use competent people applies fully.

The main hazards

1. Falls from the edge of flat and pitched roofs.
2. Falls through fragile surfaces such as fibre cement sheets, rooflights and liner panels, which may look solid but will not bear weight.
3. Falls from access equipment, especially ladders used for the work itself.
4. Falling materials and tools onto people below.
5. Weather, with wind and wet surfaces sharply raising the risk.

Controls that work

Provide a safe working platform with edge protection wherever possible, such as an independent scaffold with guard rails. Treat every rooflight and fragile panel as a hole: cover, guard or stage over it, and never walk on it. Use proper roof access, keep an exclusion zone below, and stop work in high winds. Harness and fall arrest is a last resort where collective protection is not reasonably practicable, and needs an anchor and a rescue plan.

Record it

Our risk assessment template lets you set out the roof specific hazards and controls clearly. See also our working at height guide and the method for writing an assessment.