RAMS for Roofers: A Practical Guide to Risk Assessments and Method Statements
Roofing consistently sits among the highest-risk trades in UK construction. Falls from roofs account for a significant proportion of fatal and major injuries to workers every year, which means the HSE pays close attention to how roofing contractors manage risk — and the paperwork that demonstrates it. If you carry out roofing work, producing solid RAMS (a Risk Assessment plus a Method Statement) is not optional; it is the professional and legal baseline.
What RAMS Actually Means for Roofing
A RAMS is two documents working together:
- Risk Assessment — identifies the hazards on your specific job, evaluates the likelihood and severity of harm, and records the controls you will put in place. The legal duty to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment sits in Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
- Method Statement — sets out, in plain language, exactly how the work will be done safely, step by step. It turns the controls in your risk assessment into a practical sequence of operations.
Together they show workers, clients, and inspectors that you have thought the job through before anyone climbs a ladder.
The Core Legal Framework: Work at Height Regulations 2005
Almost everything on a roof is covered by the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The hierarchy the Regulations require you to follow is:
- Avoid work at height where reasonably practicable (e.g. can any element be fabricated at ground level?).
- Prevent falls using collective protection — scaffolding, edge protection, guard rails.
- Mitigate the consequences if falls cannot be fully prevented — safety nets, soft-landing systems, fall-arrest harnesses as a last resort.
Your RAMS must reflect this hierarchy. Writing "wear a harness" as your only control for a pitched-roof replacement will not satisfy an HSE inspector and will not protect your workers.
Key Hazards to Cover in Every Roofing Risk Assessment
A site-specific risk assessment must address the actual conditions on each job. Common hazards include:
| Hazard | Typical Controls |
|---|---|
| Falls from roof edges | Scaffold with guard rails, edge protection boards, warning lines |
| Falls through fragile surfaces (rooflights, corrugated sheets) | Roof ladders, crawl boards, covers, barriers, exclusion zones |
| Falls from access (ladders, MEWPs) | Secured ladders, MEWP operator training, ground conditions check |
| Slips on wet or mossy surfaces | Non-slip footwear, dry-weather scheduling, roof ladders |
| Manual handling of tiles, slates, and materials | Mechanical lifting where possible, team lifts, staging areas |
| Exposure to asbestos cement sheets | Asbestos survey before work begins; follow COSHH 2002 and the CAR 2012 |
| Hot-work (torch-on felt, lead welding) | Fire watch, fire extinguisher on roof, hot-work permit |
| Overhead power lines | Safe distances, contact with DNO, temporary insulation barriers |
Fragile Roofs: A Specific High-Risk Area
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 contain specific provisions on fragile surfaces. If any part of a roof — or the roof itself — is fragile, you must not pass across or near it unless either:
- Suitable platforms, coverings or other equally effective measures are in place; and
- Prominent warning notices are posted where reasonably practicable.
Older fibre cement (Asbestos Cement) sheets, GRP rooflights, and corroded metal decking are frequently encountered fragile materials. Your method statement must describe exactly how workers will be kept safe around these surfaces — not just acknowledge that they exist.
Writing a Method Statement That Is Actually Useful
A method statement is not a tick-box exercise. A good one for a roofing job should include:
- Scope of work — what is being done, on which roof, with what materials.
- Sequence of operations — how access is established before work starts, how materials are lifted, how the work progresses across the roof, and how the site is left at the end of each day.
- Plant and equipment — scaffold specification, MEWP type, roof ladders, crawl boards, harness anchor points.
- Competence — who is doing the work, what relevant training or qualifications they hold (e.g. PASMA, IPAF, Working at Height awareness).
- Emergency arrangements — rescue plan if a worker is suspended in a harness, first-aid provision, nearest A&E.
- Supervision — who is responsible for checking controls are in place at the start of each shift.
CDM 2015 Considerations
If your roofing project is notifiable under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 — broadly, projects lasting more than 30 working days with more than 20 workers simultaneously, or exceeding 500 person-days — a Principal Contractor will need your RAMS to feed into the Construction Phase Plan. Even on smaller jobs, clients increasingly require RAMS before work can start.
Keeping RAMS Current
A risk assessment is not a one-time document. If site conditions change — unexpected fragile sheets discovered, a change in access method, severe weather — review and update your RAMS before work continues. Note the date of any review and who authorised it.
Good RAMS for roofers will not eliminate every risk, but they demonstrate a systematic, honest approach to managing the most serious hazards in one of the UK's most dangerous trades. That matters to your workers, your clients, and the HSE.