A roofing safety inspection is a walk-up check of a crew at work: a superintendent, a safety manager or the owner climbing to the roof unannounced and looking at what is actually happening, not what the safety manual says should happen. Falls are the leading cause of death in roofing, so most of this form is about the edge — the ladder up, the harnesses and anchors, guardrails or warning lines, holes and skylights — followed by the roof surface, the weather, PPE, tools and hot work. Every check is Yes, Fixed while I was there, No or N/A, and every answer that is not Yes asks what happened, so the report doubles as a coaching record. Fill it in here and download a PDF, or speak while you walk, and the document writes itself.
Start from the ground
The first look happens before the inspector climbs. Is anyone on the roof without fall protection right now? Is the area under the edge where material is coming down roped off? Are there power lines near where the ladder or hoist is set? If the answer to any of those is bad, work stops before the rest of the form matters, and the form records that first.
Then check who is on the job. Every worker should be on the crew list for that day, including subcontractors, and the number on the roof should match. A stranger on the roof is a person nobody has trained, and an inspector who does not know how many people are up there cannot account for them in an emergency.
Fall protection is checked by system
Crews protect people at the edge in different ways: personal fall arrest with a harness, lifeline and anchor; guardrails; a warning line with a safety monitor on low-slope roofs; safety nets; or roof brackets and toe boards on steep slopes. Each has its own failure points. The form asks which systems are in use and shows only those checks, so a crew working behind guardrails is not marked down for harness questions.
For personal fall arrest, the inspector looks at the whole chain: an anchor fixed into framing as its manufacturer directs, a lifeline or lanyard with little slack and a rope grab set close, a harness worn snug with the back D-ring between the shoulder blades, and every part free of cuts, burns and damaged hardware. The height at which protection is required depends on the rules that apply to your job; record what you saw against the rule your company follows.
Why "fixed while I was there" counts
A good inspector fixes what can be fixed on the spot: a harness gets clipped in, a hole gets covered, a ladder gets tied off. If the form only allowed Yes or No, those moments would either be marked as failures (and the inspector would stop fixing) or as passes (and nobody would ever see the pattern). Fixed while I was there earns half credit and becomes a low-level finding, so a crew that needs the same correction every week shows up in the summary.
Weather, heat and hot work
Wind, rain, frost and morning dew turn a walkable roof into a slide, and summer heat on a dark roof is a hazard in its own right. The form asks whether conditions are fit for work and whether the crew has water, shade and breaks. Torch-applied and hot-asphalt work adds fire: an extinguisher within reach, propane stored and secured, a fire watch after the torch goes off. That section folds away when there is no hot work on the job.
Closing the loop
An inspection only improves safety if what it found gets done. The last section lists each corrective action with a person and a date, records what the crew was told — including praise, which matters as much as correction — and leaves room for the superintendent and the safety manager to review and sign. The finished PDF is a record that the job was checked, what was found and who acted on it.
Common questions
Who should complete a roofing safety inspection?
A superintendent, foreman, safety manager or the business owner — anyone trained to recognize fall hazards and with the authority to stop work. Many roofing companies have superintendents inspect every active crew weekly and a safety manager spot-check a sample.
How often should roofing crews be inspected?
Common practice is at least weekly on every job, plus whenever a crew starts a new job, conditions change (weather, a new roof area, a new trade on site), or after a near miss. Unannounced visits show the job as it really runs.
At what height do roofers need fall protection?
It depends on the rules that apply to the job and the country you are working in. In US construction, the federal threshold is generally six feet above a lower level, and some states and many companies are stricter. This form records whether fall protection was in use; check the current rules that apply to your job.
Does this inspection replace checking the harnesses and lanyards themselves?
No. This form looks at how fall protection is being used on the day. Each harness, lanyard and lifeline should also be checked by the user before each use and inspected regularly by a competent person, with its own record.
How is the score calculated?
Yes scores one, Fixed while I was there scores a half, No scores zero, and N/A is left out. Only the systems and activities on the job are counted. The score is useful to compare crews and track a crew over time, but one No on fall protection still means stopping the work until it is put right.