Safety ladders and roof rails can help landlords to comply with the necessary health and safety regulations when allowing workmen on to their properties in order to carry out repairs.
The Health and Safety Executive has issued fresh guidance for landlords who are intending to use self-employed builders in repair work, stressing that simple precautions can protect those individuals while they are working at height.
Loraine Charles, an inspector with the HSE, says landlords’ duties are “”not onerous””, but that property owners must “”make appropriate enquiries into the arrangements for carrying out the work safely””.
The HSE inspector adds: “”These enquiries, and the actions they prompt, may be sufficient to prevent needless death or injury.””
Precautions can be as simple as using safety ladders in place of ordinary ones, or fitting roof rails to prevent people and equipment from falling over the edge.
In many cases, these might seem unnecessary in areas that are only infrequently accessed by workers – however, it is still essential to protect those people during the times when they are working.
As such, fitting edge protection at the outset can establish long-term safeguards, and remove the need to erect temporary scaffolding each time roof access is required.