Putting people to work at height on a roof top is often a company minefield, since the ramifications can result in really serious consequences if not handled properly. If discovered to be culpable in the operations, control and appropriate training and equipment, you will be confronting legal charges and legal penalties and where disregard as well as putting profit before safety is established those fines could possibly be punitive.

By attending a rooftop course you and your workers should have gained the skills as well as the required understanding, combined with the most appropriate specific skills to be effective on roofs. As a result not only will you have a very much safer environment but also be able prove the way you have thoroughly discharged your legal duties by implementing best practice, efficient methods, resulting in happier, safer workforce.

Rooftop Working at Height courses should provide a detailed look into the relevant issues surrounding the roof top access as a whole. Focusing on the level of access required the safety precautions specific to the access available. Anchorage considerations and appropriate equipment selection with regard to suitability for job and work to be carried out on roofs.

The course needs to cover methodology for safe access: during roof construction, general access on existing roofs, covering a variety of roofs with different approaches for the following styles:

Flat roofs, slab roofs, suspended roofs, tin roofs, pitch roofs, vaulted roofs, and domed roofs

Consideration should then also be given to the specific safe access and anchorage arrangements, and equipment suitability for the following working areas: Hips, Eaves, Valleys, Ridges, Parapets, and Trusses etc.

The rooftop safety course programme should include:

• General roof height safety considerations

• Working at height suitability - fall arrest / work positioning / restraint on roofs

• Basic elements of safe working procedures / equipment principles / operator - Considerations when working on roofs including:

Harnesses

Lanyards

Inertia reels

Restraint systems

Connectors

Fall arrest systems

Fixed and temporary systems

• Equipment requirements and limitations for roof work: specific requirements / suitability

• Anchorage - propriety devices in consideration with access and applications found on roofs

• Rescue considerations specific to scope of work on roofs

Learning Outcomes

A good rooftop safety course should provide candidates with the knowledge and confidence to be competent and certified to work on roofs, dealing with access safety related issues that occur within their working environment on roof-tops.

Having passed this course candidate will be able to:

•Have a good theoretical understanding of roof top height safety.

•Be confident practically when working, accessing rooftops at height.

•Competently make equipment selection, anchorage consideration for specific tasks on new or existing roof surfaces.

•Demonstrate competency in height safety equipment usage specific to roofs.

•Achieve better practical standards of health and safety in the work place.

Following the course delegates should have the ability to work safely at height, have a sound theory of the hazards and risks associated with working on a roof at height, and have the practical abilities in making use of the right height safety equipment correctly and safely.

Delegates must have a comprehensive and complete understanding of exactly what is required to work safely at height along with attain better practical standards of health and safety in the work place.