Fragile roofs and solar installation on farm buildings

Most of the people hurt on farm roofs are not installers. They are the farmer or farm worker who goes up to look, to clean moss, or to show the surveyor the leak. A solar project puts more people on more roofs for longer, so the fragile-roof rules apply to everyone who will be up there. This guide uses the Health and Safety Executive’s farm pages, read on 29 October 2026.

What HSE says about fragile roofs on farms

HSE’s agriculture page on work at height says falls are the second highest cause of death in agriculture, and that every year at least eight people die falling from a height. It says “Most types of fibre cement roofs will be fragile. Roof lights will often also be fragile”, warns “Never walk on fragile materials such as asbestos or other fibre cement sheet, roof lights or glass”, and notes that roof lights and glass may have been painted over.

What must be in place before anyone goes up

• Platforms, covers or similar. HSE: “No one must ever work on or from, or walk over, fragile roofs unless platforms, covers or similar are provided which will adequately support their weight.”
• The 2 m rule. You need protection when anyone passes by or works nearer than 2 m to fragile materials. The preferred measures are covering the fragile material or providing full edge protection; where that is not reasonably practicable, safety nets or harnesses, used by trained and competent people.
• Roof ladders and crawling boards. They must span at least three purlins and should be at least 600 mm wide. HSE’s case-study page adds that simply walking the line of the purlins should never be allowed.
• Ask whether access is needed at all. HSE says to consider whether access to the roof is really necessary, plan the work, allow enough time, account for weather, and make sure everyone knows the precautions. Work at height must be planned, supervised and carried out by competent people.

What this means for a solar project

1. Treat the roof as fragile until a competent person says otherwise. Asbestos cement and other fibre-cement sheet, rooflights and corroded sheet are the usual culprits. The roof-condition decision is on solar panels on asbestos cement farm roofs and overclad or strip an asbestos cement farm roof.
2. Ask the installer for the method statement before the survey day. Who goes on the roof, from what platform, with what edge protection and what cover over rooflights. The survey stage is described in the farm solar site survey process.
3. Do not volunteer to go up yourself. HSE’s farm pages are written for exactly the person who “just pops up” to point something out.
4. Weight is a separate question. A roof that can carry the array may still not carry a person on the sheets: solar panel weight and roof loading.
5. A new roof removes the problem for the next job. If the sheets are near the end of life, see combined re-roof plus solar.

Sources

This is general information, not legal advice. The duty-holder for a project is whoever employs or controls the people on the roof; ask the installer to state it in writing.