Preventing Falls Through Fragile Roofs and Roof Lights on Irish Construction Sites

Falls through fragile roofing materials, including roof lights, asbestos cement sheets, and corroded metal decking, are a persistent cause of fatal injury...

A Persistent and Preventable Hazard

Falls through fragile roofing materials are a persistent cause of fatal injury in the Irish construction industry. Workers fall through roof lights, through asbestos cement sheets, through corroded metal decking, and through other fragile surfaces every year. Many of these fatalities occur not during roofing work itself, but during maintenance, inspection, or other activities where workers walk on or near fragile roofing materials without adequate precautions.

The hazard is insidious because fragile roofing materials often look solid. Roof lights may be obscured by dirt or moss. Asbestos cement sheets may appear intact but be brittle and unable to support a person's weight. Corroded metal decking may look sound but fail without warning. Workers who are not aware of the hazard may step onto fragile materials without realising the risk.

The Legal Framework

The legal requirements for working on or near fragile roofs are set out in Part 4 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007, which governs work at height. Regulation 100 specifically requires employers to take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent workers from falling through fragile surfaces. Where work on or near fragile surfaces cannot be avoided, the employer must provide suitable platforms, coverings, or other means of support to prevent falls.

The Construction Regulations 2013 require the PSCS to ensure that appropriate controls are in place for all work at height on the construction site, including work on or near fragile roofs. The PSCS must ensure that the risks associated with fragile roofing materials are identified in the Construction Phase Safety and Health Plan and that appropriate controls are specified.

Identifying Fragile Roofing Materials

Before any work begins on a roof, the employer must assess whether the roofing materials are fragile. Fragile materials include fibre cement (asbestos cement or non-asbestos cement) sheets, roof lights of any material, corroded or thin metal sheets, glass, and any other material that cannot safely support the weight of a person and their tools and equipment.

The assessment must be carried out by a competent person who has the knowledge and experience to identify fragile materials. Where there is any doubt about whether a material is fragile, it must be treated as fragile until it has been confirmed otherwise.

Controls for Working on Fragile Roofs

The preferred control for fragile roofs is to avoid working on them altogether. Where the work can be done from below, from a mobile elevated work platform, or by other means that do not require workers to walk on the roof, this approach should be taken.

Where work on the roof is unavoidable, the employer must provide suitable means of support to prevent workers from falling through fragile materials. The options include crawling boards or roof ladders that spread the worker's weight over a larger area of the roof, staging or platforms erected below the fragile materials to catch workers if they fall, and the replacement or covering of fragile materials before work begins.

Roof lights are a particularly common cause of falls through fragile surfaces. Roof lights must be clearly marked to warn workers of their presence, and must be either covered with load-bearing covers or protected by barriers that prevent workers from stepping onto them. Covers must be secured so that they cannot be accidentally displaced, and must be capable of supporting the weight of a person.

Fragile Roof Warning Signs

Where fragile roofing materials are present, warning signs must be displayed at all access points to the roof and at regular intervals along the roof to warn workers of the hazard. Warning signs alone are not sufficient as a control measure, but they are an important supplement to the physical controls described above.

Maintenance Work on Existing Buildings

Many falls through fragile roofs occur during maintenance work on existing buildings, rather than during new construction. Maintenance workers who are not specialist roofers may not be aware of the hazard posed by fragile roofing materials. Employers who send workers onto roofs for maintenance purposes must ensure that the workers have been trained to identify fragile materials, that the roof has been assessed before work begins, and that appropriate controls are in place.

Conclusion

Falls through fragile roofs are preventable. The hazard is well understood, the legal requirements are clear, and the controls are straightforward. The persistent occurrence of these fatalities reflects a failure to apply the required controls consistently. Employers who take fragile roof hazards seriously, who assess roofs before work begins, and who provide suitable means of support for workers will prevent the tragedies that continue to occur on Irish construction sites.