Fragile Roof Examples

If working on a fragile roof is still needed try to keep as safe as possible by using stagings guardrails and fall arrest systems as required.

Fragile roof examples.

A significant rise in the number of fatalities involving working on roofs particularly involving fragile roof materials has prompted the health and safety authority to issue this safety alert to highlight the need for stringent health and safety procedures when carrying out this type of work. Fragile roofs are typically found on industrial buildings e g. Workers such as electricians plumbers pest. No sheeted roof should be relied on to bear a person s weight.

Working from underneath the roof using a working platform to carry out roof repairs. Falls through fragile roofs and fragile roof lights cause death and serious injury. Almost all of these fatalities arise from construction work in some form or another. Work on fragile roofs should be avoided if there is a safer method to do the work.

All roofs should be treated as fragile until a competent person has confirmed they are not. Fragile roofs pose a serious risk to both life and limb throughout the uk with nine people falling to their deaths each year. For example where possible try to replace roof sheets or lights from underneath using a suitable work platform. A roof is considered fragile if it is unable to take the weight of a person stepping onto it.

What you need to know. Fractures can occur so rapidly that a worker could easily fall through the roof suffering serious or even fatal injuries. It explains which surfaces present a particular risk and what you should do as a building owner or occupier. Safety alert for working on fragile roofs.

Workers undertaking roof work and building maintenance can die or be permanently disabled when they fall through fragile surfaces. Fragile roofing materials may fracture without warning. Anyone carrying out roof works needs to have suitable training skills and experience. Common on older or industrial buildings such as warehouses and factories fragile roofs come in many different types and it may not always be obvious that a roof is fragile at first glance.

Safer methods would involve workers not going onto the roof for example. Roofs can become fragile over time due to natural wear and tear or they might have been fragile from the start. This leaflet is for building owners and occupiers construction businesses and workers in the construction refurbishment and building maintenance sectors in short anyone working on fragile roofs or having work done.