Posted By Paul Trim The working at Height COP indicates that short-term inspection can be carried out without fall edge protection. What length of time would be considered as short term? I assume you would agree that a barrier would be required two meters in from the roof's edge?

Posted By Derek Holt As the previous respondent has pointed out, if you stay more than 2m from the edge then not a problem. But an assessment must obviously be made of the roof itself, access and the weather on the day i.e. slippery, windy wet etc. If work is required within 2m and a harness is to be used, then the system should be of a restraint type to stop the person from physically being able to fall off the edge.

Posted By Derek Holt As you point out there may be other dangers such as covered rooflights, that the building owners don't know about or neglect to tell you. You raise a very good point about access. Besides the roof top adequacy to take a persons weight, time and time again I see fixed access ladders that finish at roof top height and have no guarding either side or inwards for at least 2m. The risk is greater when getting off such a ladder then walking on the roof top itself. If the surface of the roof is deemed suitable to take weight then there are ways around the issue of falling from the top of the ladder during egress. Firstly insist the ladder is replaced otherwise this involves the use of height safety equipment for protection. There are also good systems for work on the roof that offer good protection against falls. On rooftops the first priority should be to prevent falls and not accept that a fall may occur and then to use fall protection equipment to limit the distance fallen. If such equipment is to be used it should be configured for restraint first and foremost and not fall arrest. One thing to remember though, is that if general fall protection equipment is used and there is the potential for a person to fall through an element of fragile material that is not identified/demarcated then consideration also has to be given for what is potentially below the roof level. Although such equipment will if properly installed and used limit the distance of fall, there has been many cases were a person has fallen through only to hit another object below. Out of interest do you include RF hazards from telecomm equipment in your roof top risk assessments? If you need any advice on height safety then feel free to drop me a line.