Roofs combine the worst of everything: you work at the edge, on a slope and sometimes on materials that cannot bear a person's weight. Royal Decree 1627/1997 treats them as specific work (annex IV, part C, point 12.b).
Roofs
- The necessary collective protection measures are taken according to the height, the pitch and whether the surface may be slippery: guardrails around the perimeter, platforms or nets (annex IV, C.3.b and C.12.b).
- They protect against falls of workers, tools and materials: also against anything that could fall into the street or onto whoever is below.
- Collective fall protection may only be interrupted at the access points to a stairway or a ladder (Royal Decree 2177/2004, annex II, 4.1.4).
Fragile surfaces
Skylights, rooflights, fibre cement or polycarbonate sheets: when work has to be done on or near a fragile surface, measures are taken so that nobody steps on it unawares or falls through it (C.12.b): walkways or load-spreading boards, nets under the roof, signage and fencing around rooflights.
Before going up, and every time
The stability and strength of the supporting elements and the good condition of the protections are checked before use, then periodically and whenever an alteration, a period of disuse or any other circumstance could affect them (C.3.c). And the employer must protect you from bad weather that compromises your safety (C.4): with wind, rain or ice on the roof there is no work at height (Royal Decree 2177/2004, 4.1.6).
Special risks and the preventive resource
Work with a particularly serious risk of falling from height, because of the nature of the activity, the procedures or the surroundings, is on the (non-exhaustive) list of work with special risks on construction sites (annex II, point 1). When activities legally classed as dangerous or with special risks are carried out, the presence of a preventive resource at the workplace is mandatory (Law 31/1995, article 32 bis.1.b): one or more designated workers or members of the prevention service, with sufficient capability, means and numbers to make sure the measures are followed (32 bis.2 and 32 bis.3).
Source: Real Decreto 1627/1997, obras de construcción (construction sites, in Spanish), annex IV, part C, points 3.c), 4 and 12.b), and annex II, point 1 · Real Decreto 2177/2004, trabajos temporales en altura (temporary work at height, in Spanish), annex II, points 4.1.4 and 4.1.6 · Ley 31/1995, de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales (Occupational Risk Prevention Act, in Spanish), article 32 bis