SafeWork South Australia has reminded tradies to keep a lookout when on fragile roofing this year.
This comes after an incident involving an asbestos removalist falling about five metres in Ridleytown on January 11.
“In this incident, the company attempted to manage the risk of falls by allowing workers to use an inadequate fall arrest system along which required workers to be highly trained and competent in its setup and use,” SafeWork SA acting executive director Glenn Farrell said.
“When working on or near fragile material, there is a high risk of serious injury or death to workers if not adequately controlled.
“Businesses need to undertake an adequate risk assessment and implement higher order control measures or a combination of control measures, such as temporary work platforms (crawling boards) or where possible, use an elevating work platform or boom list to avoid standing on the roof itself.”
SafeWork advises that no sheeted roof should be relied on to carry your weight, including roof ridge and purlins.
Likely fragile roofs include asbestos roofing sheets, polycarbonate and plastic used for skylights, fibre cement sheets, liner panels, glass such as wired glass and tiles.
Risk assessment for working with fragile roofing includes the following:
- Review the asbestos register (if applicable)
- Inspection of perimeter walls for warning notices
- Fall risks such as voids or unprotected edges
- Access points
- distribution of load and support below
Things such as using an elevated work platform, barriers or staging to support tradies or a safety harness and/or fall arrest equipment can and should be employed in order to keep you or your workers safe.
For more tips, head to www.safework.sa.gov.au.