Rooftop Safety Starts Before the Roof Edge
Safe access, protected openings, thoughtful traffic patterns, and risk-based hazard assessments can significantly reduce the dangers workers face while performing rooftop inspections and maintenance.
- By David Kopf
- Aug 06, 2026
When safety professionals think about rooftop hazards, the first image that often comes to mind is an employee working near an unprotected roof edge. While that risk deserves attention, it represents only one part of a much broader rooftop safety strategy. Workers encounter hazards the moment they step onto a roof, and many serious incidents involve overlooked access points or unprotected skylights rather than the roof perimeter itself.
During a recent presentation on rooftop safety, Daniel Huntington, general manager of Key Safety and a fall protection specialist who helps organizations assess rooftop hazards and develop rooftop safety programs, encouraged employers to evaluate rooftop risks in the order workers actually encounter them. That practical approach can help safety professionals identify vulnerabilities, prioritize improvements, and better align their programs with OSHA requirements.
Start with Safe Access
Every rooftop safety program begins with a simple question: How do workers get onto the roof?
According to Huntington, organizations often devote significant attention to protecting roof edges while overlooking access points such as fixed ladders, roof hatches, and stairways. Yet every employee accessing a roof must pass through these locations, making them some of the most frequently encountered hazards on the site.
OSHA requires employees to be protected from falls at ladder access points through measures such as guardrails with self-closing gates or properly designed offsets. The objective is to prevent workers from accidentally stepping or falling back through the roof opening during the transition from ladder to rooftop.
Huntington recommends thinking beyond minimum compliance and considering how employees move once they reach the roof. Rather than allowing workers to immediately travel along the perimeter, organizations should evaluate whether traffic patterns can direct employees toward the center of the roof before they move to specific work areas. Guiding workers away from exposed edges whenever practical reduces routine exposure to fall hazards without relying solely on personal protective equipment.
Another consideration is the condition of access systems themselves. Older fixed ladders may require upgrades to comply with current OSHA requirements, and organizations should evaluate whether stair towers or other permanent access methods make more sense for facilities with frequent rooftop traffic. Safe access should never become an afterthought simply because it is a familiar part of the job.
Don't Overlook Skylights and Roof Openings
Once workers are safely on the roof, the next priority is identifying openings that present fall hazards.
Skylights are among the most misunderstood rooftop hazards because they often appear solid enough to support a person's weight. In reality, many skylights consist of aging plastic materials that become increasingly brittle after years of ultraviolet exposure. Even if a skylight was originally designed to withstand certain loads, weathering can significantly reduce its strength over time.
OSHA specifically identifies skylights as openings that require fall protection. Employers can address these hazards through properly rated covers, guardrail systems, travel restraint systems, or personal fall arrest systems, depending on the circumstances. Huntington noted that preventing workers from reaching the opening is generally preferable to relying on equipment that activates only after a fall has occurred.
Facilities located in northern climates face an additional seasonal challenge. Snow accumulation can completely conceal skylights, creating the illusion of a continuous walking surface. Employees assigned to remove snow or perform winter maintenance may unknowingly step onto a skylight and fall through it if appropriate protections are not already in place.
Safety managers should regularly inspect rooftop openings, verify that protective systems remain intact, and avoid assuming that existing skylights continue to provide adequate structural protection simply because they have not previously failed.
Understanding Risk at the Roof Edge
Only after access points and roof openings have been evaluated should attention shift to the hazard most people immediately associate with rooftop work: the roof edge.
Current OSHA requirements recognize that risk increases as workers move closer to the edge. Work performed within six feet of the roof edge requires fall protection such as guardrails, safety nets, travel restraint systems, or personal fall arrest systems. Between six and 15 feet, employers may have additional options under certain circumstances, including designated areas for work that is both infrequent and temporary. Beyond 15 feet, OSHA does not require fall protection only when the work is both infrequent and temporary and the employer implements and enforces a work rule prohibiting employees from going within 15 feet of the roof edge.
Rather than viewing these distances simply as regulatory thresholds, Huntington encouraged attendees to think about them as risk zones. The closer employees work to the edge, the less margin there is for error. A seemingly minor event, such as a slip or trip, can quickly become catastrophic when it occurs only a few feet from an unprotected edge.
That perspective reinforces the importance of planning work before employees ever step onto the roof. By locating equipment access routes, establishing designated walking paths, and positioning warning lines appropriately, employers can reduce the amount of time workers spend in the highest-risk areas.
Apply the Hierarchy of Controls
Like many occupational hazards, rooftop risks are best addressed by following the hierarchy of controls rather than relying exclusively on PPE.
Whenever possible, eliminating a hazard altogether provides the highest level of protection. While eliminating rooftop hazards is not always practical, collective protection measures such as permanent guardrails or properly installed skylight covers reduce risk for everyone working on the roof, regardless of experience or training level. These systems also reduce dependence on individual workers consistently selecting, inspecting, wearing, and correctly using personal fall protection equipment.
Personal fall protection systems remain an important component of many rooftop safety programs, particularly when collective protection cannot reasonably be installed. However, Huntington emphasized that employers should recognize their limitations. Fall arrest systems require proper engineering, employee training, equipment inspection, and rescue planning. Stopping a fall is only part of the equation. Organizations must also be prepared to rescue suspended workers promptly to reduce the risk of suspension trauma following a fall.
Building a Safer Rooftop Program
Developing an effective rooftop safety program requires more than checking regulatory boxes. It begins with understanding how employees actually use the roof and identifying the hazards they encounter throughout the course of routine work.
Walking the roof, observing employee traffic patterns, evaluating access points, inspecting skylights and openings, and assessing where maintenance activities occur can provide valuable insight into where improvements are needed. Those observations also help organizations prioritize investments that reduce exposure before workers rely on personal protective equipment.
By approaching rooftop safety from the ground up rather than the edge inward, employers can create safer working environments that not only support OSHA compliance but also reduce the likelihood of serious injuries or fatalities during routine maintenance and inspection activities.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2026 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.