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Rooflights RAMS Builder

Rooflight installation risk assessment and method statement

Prepare RAMS for fitting a new rooflight or taking out an old unit and fitting its replacement. Describe the roof, the opening and the access, edit the suggested steps and read the PDF draft.

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Prepare the Rooflights RAMS

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Rooflights RAMS

What will you be doing?

More details

Pick everything this RAMS covers. The questions that follow are chosen from what you tick here.

What a Rooflights RAMS covers

Fitting the kerb and unit into a prepared opening and weathering it in, and removing a failed rooflight and fitting its replacement with the opening guarded throughout.

  • Install rooflight
  • Replace rooflight

Suggested steps and hazards for Rooflights

What it offers for install rooflight before you have answered anything.

  1. Permit and fire watch for any flame

    • Any torch, grinder or hot air gun on the roof needs a hot works permit from the site first.
    • Keep an extinguisher at the work spot, and check the area again an hour after the last flame or spark.

    Hazard

    A spark gets into the roof build-up and smoulders into a fire after you have gone

    Who might be harmed and how

    Everyone in and below the building

    Controls in place

    • Clear loose felt, timber and insulation away from where the sparks land.
    • Do not finish the permit until the one-hour check is done.

    Roof fires usually start hours after the torch went off, in the layers underneath.

    HSE HSG168: Fire safety in construction
  2. Check the weather before you start

    • Do not lift or fix rooflight units and flashing in strong wind; a large sheet is a sail.
    • Stop in heavy rain, ice or lightning, and rest in the shade in hot weather.

    Hazard

    Wind catches the rooflight units and flashing or blows someone off balance at height

    Who might be harmed and how

    The team and people below

    Controls in place

    • Agree a wind limit for panels and platforms and check the forecast each morning.
    • Tie down or take in loose materials before you leave.

    Wind is the main weather cause of falls and dropped loads in outside work at height.

    HSE: Work at height
  3. Stop things falling on people below

    • Fence off the ground below the work so nobody walks under the rooflight units and tools.
    • Use toe boards, brick guards or netting on platforms and lanyard tools where you can.

    Hazard

    Rooflight units and tools falling onto people below

    Who might be harmed and how

    People below, including the public

    Controls in place

    • Lower waste in bags or a chute, never throw it.
    • Keep the exclusion zone up until the last item is down.

    Falling objects are a leading cause of harm to the public near construction.

    HSE: Protecting the public

What the builder asks about Rooflights

Your answers decide which steps, hazards and controls it suggests.

The job

  • What unit are you fitting?
  • What unit is coming out?
  • What roof covering will the flashing join?
  • What replacement unit are you fitting?

Where

  • Is the opening ready for this unit?
  • Has the roof around it been checked for fragility?
  • Is the building older than the year 2000? Older buildings can have asbestos in them.
  • What pipes or cables run around or through the roof opening?

How it’s done

  • What will you stand on to reach the work?
  • Will the replacement fit the existing opening?
  • How will the rooflight units and glazing get to the work?

What your Rooflights RAMS includes

Method statement

The sequence of the work, step by step. The suggestions are a starting point; you write the method for the job as it will be done.

Risk assessment

Each hazard, who could be harmed, the controls in place and any further action. There is no risk score: you judge each row against the real site, and adding a hazard does not put its controls in place.

PDF draft for review

The document as you left it, for someone competent to check. A download is not approval and not permission to start work.