Hi, After opinions from anybody who may have experience with the topic. We have a very large 30 metres by 30 metres flat roof. It has no edge protection around the perimeter. It has a few sky lights dotted around and also 2 x large openings in the centre of it (court yards). If we have contractors working on the roof im trying to figure out the most reasonable control measures. We have a air con condenser being installed onto the flat roof soon. Probably half a days work. I have revised HSG 33 and found the following in regard to flat roofs. "Where limited work is being carried out on sections of a large roof, and edge protection around the whole perimeter is not reasonably practicable, a simple form of continuous physical barrier some distance from the roof edge could identify the work area and any access route to it. In most circumstances a distance of at least 2 m from the edge will be sufficient. This will depend on the geometry of the roof and may need to be increased. This type of barrier is only acceptable where there is a high level of supervision and discipline to make sure that people do not go beyond the demarcated area. There should be no unprotected holes, breaks or fragile material within the ‘safe area’. If there are any, they should be protected with robust covers or continuous physical barriers. All barriers should be durable and immediately obvious to all. Bunting, tape or markings at foot level, such as a painted line, are not sufficient." In regards to the simple form of continuous physical barrier ( 1st sentence of the guidance)what would the minimum requirement be? The last sentence of the guidnace says barriers should be durable, is this relating the the edge protection barrier or the barrier for the openings and skylights?

Thanks for your response, what you say makes sense. It was the exclusion zone barriers I was not quite sure of. The HSG guidance wasn't totally clear. Well it wasnt to me anyways :) thanks again

stonecold, I agree with the advice from Ray and James. If working on just a small area of a larger flat roof then 'barriers' similar to Chapter 8 (roadworks-type linkable barriers) are acceptable if they can form a 2m exclusion zone. Tape between cones I wouldn't accept as these can be blown away. If you have to work closer than 2 metres to a roof edge there are robust linkable weighted L-shaped barriers which can be hired, for example see this image http://www.construct-equ...uk//uploads/003__900.jpg either for a roof perimeter or to form a square around a work area that is close to skylights, domes etc Additionally any skylights or dome windows should be cover protected - they might have had a good 'non-fragile' specification when new but that relies on them having been installed properly, so always advisable to prevent anyone falling onto them. If the job is to replace skylights or domes then additionally usually a crash deck under them is the norm. Bigger jobs e.g. complete replacement of a flat felt roof should have scaffolding around the building/roof perimeter.

What if it more than 2m from the edge, can markings at foot level be accepted?, fore example 5/6m from edge? Thanks

Thats a 'bright' idea, that's an enlighting thought actually, but think you need to lighten up a bit.

What do the contractors have in place regarding RAMS and Safe Systems of works ?

Hi, We have this covered with a permanent fixed ladder access point. We have had big jobs done on the roof before and this worked well. For the previous big job we did have full scaffolding erected around the perimeter. Its the smaller jobs which dont warrant such additional cost that I was not quite sure how best to manage. Thanks for the comment.

Marc, for WAH situations, 'hazard tape' can never a sufficient barrier or material to define a work perimeter, it can be accidentally broken and even blown away. Something more physical is needs, like Chap 8 barriers that link together and have adjustable feet.

In principle the controls are not on the proviso of any time limit, 10 minutes or 60 minutes it's the same. Except of course for the person placing the barriers whose sole job it is to ensure the controls are in place. The purpose of the barriers is to ensure anyone not familiar with the roof or who might be distracted whilst doing something else is forewarned. I suppose if you wanted to just show someone the roof or the location of the equipment prior to the work starting then you could provide a 'lookout' who is familiar with roof and whose sole purpose is to supervise others.