UK construction-safety guidance by the Riskora Editorial Team
Producing a proper rams for roofing work is not optional — it is a legal and practical requirement for construction work in the UK. Whether you are a sole trader or managing a multi-phase project, documented risk management protects your workers, satisfies clients, and keeps you on the right side of HSE enforcement.
Example RAMS
RAMS for Roofing Work
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Under CDM 2015 and HSE guidance, a RAMS for roofing work must be prepared before work begins on any construction site. The principal contractor is responsible for ensuring RAMS are in place, but duty holders at every level must contribute.
A construction contractor in UK needs to produce a rams for roofing work before starting work next week. The client has requested professional documentation as a condition of site access. Using Riskora, they select the relevant trade preset, review pre-populated hazards, adjust controls for their specific site, and generate a professional rams in under 5 minutes — ready for review and sign-off.
Under the Work at Height Regulations 2005 the duty is a hierarchy, not a choice: avoid the work at height, then prevent the fall with collective protection, and only then mitigate the distance and consequences. Regulation 9 imposes a separate, specific duty on fragile surfaces. HSG33 sets the expectation that access, edge protection and fragile-surface controls are planned before anyone reaches the roof — which is exactly what a principal contractor is reading your documentation to confirm.
Work at Height Regulations 2005 · SI 2005/735
HSE
Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 · SI 2015/51
HSE
Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (cement sheets, bitumen felts) · SI 2012/632
HSE
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, reg 3 · SI 1999/3242
HSE
Roof work kills more construction workers in the UK than any other single activity, and the fatal falls are rarely from the edge — they are through the surface, usually within the first hour on a roof nobody had surveyed. Most rejected roofing documentation fails on the same point: it names 'working at height' as a hazard but says nothing about which surfaces on this roof are fragile and how they will be covered.
| Hazard | Control measure |
|---|---|
| Fall through a fragile surface — rooflight, fibre-cement sheet or corroded deck | Treat every rooflight and cement sheet as fragile until proven otherwise. Cover, stage over or fit proprietary rooflight covers before access; use crawling boards on sheeted roofs; never rely on paint or netting alone as the primary control. |
| Fall from an unprotected leading edge, eaves or verge | Independent edge protection (double guardrail plus toeboard) to all open edges, or a scaffold with a working platform at eaves level. Where edge protection is not reasonably practicable, a soft-landing system or fall-arrest anchored to a designed point, with a rescue plan. |
| Falling materials, tiles, batten offcuts or tools striking people below | Exclusion zone with physical barriers and signage under the working area, debris netting or brick guards to the scaffold, enclosed chutes to a skip, and no throwing or dropping of materials at any stage. |
| Wind loading on sheets, membranes and insulation boards | Stop-work wind speeds stated numerically (typically 17 mph / Beaufort 4 for sheet handling, 23 mph for MEWP use), anemometer readings recorded by the supervisor, and materials weighted or strapped down at every break. |
| Hot works on built-up felt and torch-on systems igniting the roof build-up | Hot work permit with a 60-minute fire watch after the last flame, torch-free detailing at all upstands and abutments, extinguishers at the working position, and no torch-on within 150 mm of combustible substrates. |
| Asbestos cement sheets or bituminous products disturbed during strip-out | Refurbishment and demolition survey obtained before work starts; where asbestos cement is present, non-licensed work with whole-sheet removal, no breaking, controlled lowering and waste consigned under the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005. |
If you employ anyone, yes — and in practice it is needed regardless. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require significant findings to be recorded where five or more people are employed, but the Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply to every roof job irrespective of size, and CDM 2015 applies to domestic projects with the duties passing to the contractor.
By name and by location. State that all rooflights and fibre-cement sheets are treated as fragile, then state the physical control — proprietary covers, staging over, or barriers at 2 m — and who fits them before roof access is permitted. A generic 'avoid fragile surfaces' line is the single most common reason roofing documentation is sent back.
Give a number rather than 'high winds'. Sheet and membrane handling normally stops around 17 mph (Beaufort 4) because the material becomes a sail, and most MEWP manufacturers specify a maximum of 28 mph (12.5 m/s), with 23 mph a common site limit. State who takes the reading and where it is recorded.
Select your trade, pick your hazards, and generate a structured document — no training required.
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Final RAMS must be reviewed and approved by a competent person before use.
Riskora is an assistive document preparation tool. All documents generated must be reviewed, verified, and approved by a competent person before use on site. Riskora does not replace professional safety judgment, and no output should be treated as a legal compliance guarantee.