Is Your Roof Ready for Maintenance Work?
A roof at first sight can look simple to get onto. Once someone is up there with a task to do, the picture often changes.
On commercial and industrial buildings, the biggest hazards are often the ones you can’t see from the ground. Falls from height remain the leading cause of serious and fatal workplace injuries in the UK, and roofs are a big part of that.
For facilities managers, building owners and roofing contractors, planning safe access is one of the most effective ways to prevent them.
The risks that catch people out
Fragile rooflights
Rooflights bring daylight into warehouses and factories, but many can’t take a person’s weight. Age, UV exposure, dirt and moss make them harder to tell apart from the surrounding sheeting, and they can look perfectly solid until someone steps on them.
Falls through fragile surfaces are a well-known cause of fatal accidents, so knowing exactly where they are, and having protection in place, should come before any work begins.
Unprotected edges
Without permanent edge protection, anyone working near a roof edge is exposed to a fall.
Whether guardrails, a fall-protection system or another solution is right depends on the building, the type of work and how often the roof is visited.
Getting around once you’re up there
Reaching the roof is only half the job. Workers then have to get to the plant, gutters, rooflights or the area needing repair. Changes in level, rooftop equipment and other obstructions can all make that journey riskier, especially when no one has defined a route.
Plan it before the day
Roof safety shouldn’t be worked out on arrival. A few simple questions help:
How often will the roof be accessed?
What work will be carried out?
Which areas do people actually need to reach?
For buildings with regular maintenance needs, a planned access route cuts down on unnecessary exposure. This matters even more on older buildings, where the roof and its original access arrangements were rarely designed with today’s maintenance demands in mind.
What can help
Every roof is different, so the right answer comes from a proper assessment. Depending on the findings, solutions may include:
Guardrails and edge protection to prevent falls from exposed edges
Mansafe systems where personal fall protection is appropriate
Roof walkways to give clearly defined routes across the roof
Rooflight protection to reduce the risk of falls through fragile surfaces
Safe access arrangements so workers can reach the areas that need attention
Under the Work at Height Regulations 2005, collective protection such as guardrails and walkways should generally be considered before personal systems that rely on the user to clip on and use equipment correctly.
Whatever the solution, it should be designed for the building and sit within a wider approach: risk assessments, suitable training, and regular inspection and maintenance of the equipment itself. Safety systems only protect people if they’re kept in working order.
A question worth asking
Does your building have a safe, clearly planned route for rooftop maintenance?
If the answer is “I’m not sure”, or the arrangements haven’t been looked at in years, it’s worth reviewing whether they still suit how the roof is used today.
At KSE, we provide practical height safety and access solutions tailored to individual buildings and their maintenance requirements. If you’d like a second pair of eyes on your roof access, we’re happy to talk it through.
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