Roof Penetration and Opening Cover Safe Work Procedure

Suits roofers, roof plumbers, solar, air conditioning and communications installers, electricians, builders and anyone who works on or near roof penetrations, skylights, hatches, stair and lift voids or openings they cut themselves. It sets out how to find, cover, mark, inspect and hand over openings, and what to do if someone or something falls.

What Is Included In Our Roof Penetration and Opening Cover Safe Work Procedure?

• Safe work procedure with an approval sign-off
• Plain-English meaning of fall protection cover, edge protection and solid construction
• Finding and listing every opening before work starts
• What a cover must do under WHS Regulation s 306F, and how to fix and mark it
• Making a new opening safely: cut-outs, flues and pipes
• Who may lift a cover and how it is re-instated
• Shift-start and after-weather inspections and trade handover
• Falling objects below an opening
• What to do if a person or object falls, including notification
• Records, training, review and legislation references

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld): s 19 (primary duty of care), s 26A (approved codes of practice), s 28 (duties of workers), ss 35 to 39 (notifiable incidents, including s 37(f)), s 46 (other duty holders), ss 47 to 49 (consultation)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 32 to 38 (risk management), s 39 (information, training and instruction), s 43 (emergency plans), ss 54 and 55 (falling objects), ss 78 to 80 (falls), s 289 (meaning of construction work)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld), construction falls: s 306A (definitions of edge protection and fall protection cover), ss 306C and 306D (managing fall risks), s 306E (edge protection), s 306F (fall protection cover), ss 306G to 306J (travel restraint, fall arresting platforms, harness systems and safety nets)
• Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld): s 133 (employer’s report of an injury)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021 (Qld), the Falls code: sections 3.2 and 4.2. It is an approved code of practice, and a business must follow it or manage the risk in a way that gives an equivalent or higher standard (WHS Act s 26A). Its design load for covers is guidance and is not restated here
• We found no Queensland rule on cover dimensions, loads or markings beyond the test in s 306F, and nothing that defines an opening. Standards that the code names are not reproduced here
• This document is general information for Queensland workplaces and is not legal advice

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (7 pages), A4 portrait
• Business details and document control typed once and filled in on every page, plus a space for your logo
• Purpose, scope and a policy statement with an approval sign-off
• Definitions, and responsibilities for each role
• A step-by-step procedure that says who does what
• Records, training, monitoring and review, related documents and a revision history

Review it and adjust it to suit your business, your sites and the way your team works, and talk it through with your workers. If you have any trouble downloading this template, you can contact us at any time. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading.