Building Safety–NFRC’s Role as a Roofing Federation
As the UK’s largest roofing trade association, NFRC plays an important role in providing our members with the knowledge to ensure they are compliant with building safety standards and regulations.
Beyond supporting our members, NFRC is the leading voice for roofing and takes pride in being at the forefront of leading change, professionalising the industry, and promoting competence in the sector.
In this article, we explain some of the ways NFRC works to help support change.
Identifying problems affecting the roofing sector
NFRC employs a team of in-house technical experts with knowledge, skills, and experience across key roofing disciplines. To stay informed and up to date, this team sits on British Standards Technical Committees alongside manufacturers, suppliers, and roofing operatives. They are also actively involved with the ICSG (Industry Competency Steering Group), with WG2 Rainscreen Facade priority group chaired by Bob Richardson, Head of Technical and Training at NFRC.
Direct involvement such as this allows NFRC to be first alerted to potential issues and problems facing the sector, such as sub-standard roofing battens, which become increasingly prominent throughout 2024. Enlisting the support of members, non-members, and other trade associations, NFRC was able to produce a library of resources to raise awareness of the problem, produce guidance notes for the entire supply chain, and provide a Toolbox Talk for those who came across sub-standard or counterfeit battens whilst on-site.
Read the Guidance Note here.
Download the Toolbox Talk here.
Producing evidence-based content
Case studies are a great way to bring together a record documenting changes, key challenges and responses on a project.
Working with Members, NFRC has produced a number of case studies to provide a deeper understanding of works carried out in response to issues across the sector.
PCS02 Loading Out a Portal Framed Structure case study was produced following a request from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), when NFRC was alerted to incidents during loading out and installing roof sheets on portal-framed structures.
Working alongside FASET and Advisory Committee for Roofsafety, NFRC was able to produce a health and safety guidance note highlighting the important items that the Safe System of Work (SSOW) should cover for loading out portal frame structures in preparation for installing roof sheets and panels.
In addition to this, a case study was published with external stakeholders, including roofing contractors, to provide health and safety guidance.
Read the Case Study here.
Read the Health and Safety Guidance Note here.
Monitoring accident and incident trends to produce guidance
Each year, NFRC analyses accident and incident reports submitted by our members to identify trends and outline the most common causes of incidents and accidents at work. The results of this information are used to publish any required health and safety guidance to inform the industry how to adopt best practices and reduce the risk of further incidents.
In addition, NFRC is proud to support other organisations in producing guidance materials to raise awareness and promote a safe place of work.
When approached by HSE with the request to produce guidance on roof works where a gas flue is present, the NFRC Technical Team published HSGS31 Guidance for Working, clearly detailing what should be considered and the steps to take if working on a roof with a gas flue, such as vertical flue is venting through a tiled roof.
Read the Health and Safety Guidance Note here.
A Health and Safety Guidance library is available for free on the NFRC website, and can be found via the Knowledge Hub.