Heading for a fall?The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has published a new 'Code of Practice forSafety in Roofwork' for the Republic of Ireland. Gerard O'Neill MCIAT looks at what itmeans for Centre 02 members. REVIEWThe Health and Safety Authority (HSA) in theRepublic of Ireland has published a newdocument Code of Practice for Safety in Roofwork.The operative date of the Code is 1 September2011.The aim of the new document is 'to improvestandards of safety during roofwork', inparticular to 'reduce the incidence of falls fromor through roofs during or after construction'The document is structured in 12 sectionscovering client role, working safely, controllinghazards etc. Section 04, 'Role of Designer,' willbe of particular interest to CIAT members.The legal status of this document is explained inthe foreword page:'As regards the use of codes of practice incriminal proceedings, section 61 of the Safety,Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 provides asfollows: A document bearing the seal of theAuthority and purporting to be a code ofpractice or part of a code of practice publishedor approved of by the Authority shall beadmissible as evidence in any proceedings underthis Act'. Falls from a height, in particular falls from roofs,account for a large percentage of seriousconstruction and maintenance accidents. Asdesigners, we will be conscious of health andsafety in roof design, future maintenance andspecification, most notably in the design of flatroofs. We will consider provisions to limit therisks of falls during construction and throughoutthe life of the building. It is not always possible,indeed it is quite rarely possible, to incorporatethe ideal fall barrier, the 1100mm high solid roofperimeter parapet, into our roof designs. Wemust therefore consider a range of less robustdesign interventions which may includeanchorage points for fall arrest systems,protected walkways etc. The roof safety decision making process is alonely one. In many aspects of our design andspecification work, we will turn to industrysources for support and guidance. We will beconscious that many of these sources have acommercial, product promoting agenda and wewill keep this in mind when receiving advice. When dealing with providers of roof safetysystems there can be a tendency on the part ofsome industry sources to err aggressively on theside of over-provision, not only to promoteproduct but also to avoid comeback in the eventof a roof accident. Hence the designer of anover-sailing, slim section tower roof with noparapet may be strongly encouraged by the roofsafety system provider to incorporate pop-uprails around the entire roof perimeter and then toincorporate railed walkways leading across theroof at several locations to the pop-up latches.While safety is a critical concern, our final safetydesign decision is sometimes a compromise, abalance between absolute 'watertight' safety andwhat is reasonable and practical having regard toa broad range of criteria including buildability,appropriate budgeting, aesthetics etc. We mayrecord our design decision carefully on ourhealth and safety file, but we will do so with aniggling worry that the basis of our decision,which we feel is balanced and prudent, might bescrutinized with a very different bias in a courtof law in the event of a fatal fall from our roof.The possible legal argument raised against thedesigner might best be illustrated in theaccusation 'You say, Mr/Miss designer, that yourdesign was adequate to prevent falls...but clearlyit was not adequate as we are all here in this courtbecause a fatal fall didhappen!' It is in thiscontext that the value of this latest HSA code ofpractice must be viewed. In relation to the duties of the designer, the textof the new document includes guidance to theeffect that the designer must apply the principlesof prevention to the extent that it is reasonableto expect the designer to do at the time thedesign is prepared and to the extent that it isotherwise reasonably practical to do. Thedocument includes statements clearlyacknowledging the balance and compromisewhich regularly applies in design work, forexample:It would be naïve to read this statement (or otherbalanced guidance in the new code) as lesseningthe designers duty to very carefully consider roofsafety provisions. However, this document mustbe welcomed for the extent to which itacknowledges the reality that we, as designers,juggle several balls when arriving at ourdecisions. The new code can be downloaded freeof charge at www.hsa.ie (click 'publications andforms' tab).our final safety designdecision is sometimes acompromisePerimeter edge protection should, wherepracticable, be incorporated during the designprocess, for example, by incorporating a parapetaround the building. However, the everincreasing number of designs employing newstyles of roofing (eg curved and highly visibleroofs) means parapets may be viewed asinterfering with the desired shape of thebuilding.ATSEPTEMBER/OCTOBER201115