Clearing the porch roof
You are the most experienced of five staff at a garden centre. Rainwater is running down the wall of the shop because leaves have blocked the gutter on the porch roof, about 3.2 m above the paving. The manager asks you to clear it with the aluminium extension ladder from the yard, on your own, before the lunchtime rush. The ladder has a split foot, no anti-slip feet on one leg and a "last inspected" tag dated 2019. The roof has two plastic rooflights in the middle of the run, and it is breezy with showers forecast. There is a step ladder in the back that reaches about 2 m. Two customers are already walking along the wet paving under the roof. Nothing has been written down about maintenance work at height, and no one else on site has been trained to use a ladder.
1. Apply the work-at-height hierarchy to this job. What would you do, in order?
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The hierarchy for work at height is: avoid working at height where possible; prevent falls where it cannot be avoided; minimise the consequences of a fall.
- Avoid - can the job be done from the ground? A gutter-cleaning tool on an extended pole, or a contractor with a tower or mobile elevating work platform, removes the need to be up there at all. Given the fragile rooflights and the weather, this is the strongest option.
- Prevent - if someone must go up, use a suitable platform with guardrails (tower scaffold, MEWP) rather than a ladder, because it allows both hands free and protects against falling through the roof.
- Minimise - if a ladder is genuinely the only option for short, low-risk work: one that is in good condition, inspected before use, on firm level ground, secured or footed, at the correct angle, with three points of contact and no overreaching. Clear the area below and stop customers walking under it.
The decision point in this scenario is that the ladder is faulty, the roof is fragile and the weather is poor, so the job falls outside the narrow band where a ladder is acceptable. Re-plan the work; do not improvise.
2. Assume the job does go ahead. List what must be true before anyone goes up, and explain why each condition matters.
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- Equipment fit for purpose and inspected: the split foot and missing anti-slip feet must be fixed or the ladder replaced; a 2019 inspection tag tells you nothing about today. A ladder with a damaged foot can slide or kick out under load.
- Correct ladder, correct use: industrial-duty ladder, set at the right angle (roughly 1 out in 4), on firm level ground, tied off or footed, extending above the stepping-off point. Never overreach - belt buckle inside the stiles.
- Fragile roof managed: the rooflights will not take a person's weight. Either keep all work off the roof surface, or provide staging/crawling boards and edge protection. A fall through a rooflight from 3 m can be fatal.
- Weather: no work in wind or rain that affects footing or grip.
- Exclusion zone below: customers and staff kept out from under the work, using barriers and a colleague to manage the area.
- Capability: someone trained and competent, not simply available, and with a means of raising the alarm if they fall.
If any of these cannot be met, the job waits. The lunchtime rush is not a reason to accept a fall risk.
3. Who should carry out this task and what does 'competence' mean here for a garden centre with no written procedure?
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Competence means having the training, knowledge, experience and the right equipment to do the job safely, and being able to recognise when to stop. On this evidence nobody on site meets that test for roof-level work: no one is trained, there is no procedure, the ladder is defective and the roof is fragile.
So the practical answer is a competent contractor for the gutter work, selected with evidence of ladder and work-at-height training, insurance and a method statement, with the garden centre controlling the interface (exclusion of customers, isolation of the area, checking how they will access the roof). Meanwhile the manager's written procedure should state the simple rule: no work above 2 m or on a roof without a plan, a competent person and the correct equipment.
Reasoning: a small business does not need a large document, but it does need a decision rule, because the pressure to "just do it before lunch" is exactly what creates the fall.