Don’t step through, step back and plan

By Emma Peterson. 

Learn about NFRC’s newest safety campaign – Don't Fall for Fragile.  

From heavy lifting requirements and potentially dangerous machinery to working at heights, there’s a lot of safety risks that come with working in the roofing trade. At the same time, we’ve made a lot of progress when it comes to making the industry safer. For example, in the last decade we have seen real progress in preventing life-threatening falls.  

But there’s still a lot of work to do – which is why National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) continues to champion different safety causes through their campaigns. Most recently, they put out a campaign called Don’t Fall for Fragile, which focuses on raising awareness about the danger of fragile roofs and sharing resources for rooftop safety protocols. 

Fragile roofs might look solid but are actually unable to support the weight of roofers or the impact of debris. Some fragile roofs are obvious; you can see the damage to the roof’s integrity and know to avoid it. But others are more subtle and can fail without warning. Things to look for when trying to identify a fragile roof include:  

• Rooflights, domes and skylights 
• Fibre cement sheets 
• Corroded or damaged metal sheets 
• Liner panels and internal gutters 
• Woodwool slabs and older roof decks 
• Coated, overlaid or weathered roof surfaces 
• Hidden weak areas beneath coverings or repairs 

If you identify a fragile roof, or even the risk of one, it is important to plan properly and stop any unsafe shortcuts before someone gets hurt, or worse. This is the core of NFRC’s Don’t Fall for Fragile campaign: “Don’t step through. Step back and plan.” Because taking that step back to plan rather than letting people walk on roofs without knowing if they will be supported is key to keeping our crews and peers safe.  

Want to help the campaign? Take the Don’t Fall for Fragile pledge!  By taking the pledge, organisations and individuals commit to assuming that any suspect roof area is fragile unless confirmed otherwise, ensuring that no work takes place on or near fragile roofs without proper planning, and prioritising collective protection measures such as safe working platforms, edge protection, coverings and guardrails wherever possible.  

They also commit to treating all rooflights as fragile unless they are protected or proven otherwise, only using suitably designed, correctly anchored, properly adjusted and supervised fall protection equipment where required, and making sure everyone understands the risks associated with fragile roofs and feels confident to challenge unsafe shortcuts. 

Learn more or take the pledge today!