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Roofing and Sloped Roof Safety Awareness

A plain-English awareness course for anyone who goes onto a roof or plans work that puts someone else on one, roofers, plumbers, electricians, solar, antenna and air-conditioning installers, maintenance staff, supervisors, building owners and facility managers. Learn why falls are one of the biggest killers in Australian work, how the fall control hierarchy actually applies to a roof, the honest difference between edge protection, a harness and nothing at all, how to read a roof for fragile sheeting, skylights, penetrations, pitch and surface, why weather and access decide the job, what an anchor point does and does not prove and when a Safe Work Method Statement is legally required. This is awareness only. It does not make you competent to work at height, fit a harness, install an anchor or rescue anyone.
Also relevant for: Asbestos and Demolition, Construction and Trades, Electrical, Plumbing and Gas
What You Will Learn
- Explain why falls are among the leading causes of death in Australian workplaces and why the roof is the highest-consequence place most trades ever stand
- Apply the fall control hierarchy to a roof in the right order, work from the ground first, then edge protection, then work positioning, then fall arrest, and explain why a harness is near the bottom, not the top
- Read a roof before you step on it: fragile sheeting and skylights, penetrations, pitch, surface condition, and the possibility of asbestos cement sheeting
- Judge whether access and weather make the job safe today, and recognise the conditions that mean stop and reschedule
- Recognise what an anchor point does and does not prove, and why a fall arrest system without a tested rescue plan is an unfinished control
- Identify when roof work becomes high risk construction work requiring a SWMS, and know that the fall threshold is set by your own jurisdiction
Course Content
- The roof does not care that you'll only be up there five minutes
- By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Falls are a leading killer, and roofs are where they happen
- A roof is not just a high floor
- The five-minute job is the one that gets you
- This course is awareness. It does not put you on a roof
- The law does not ask you to be careful. It asks you to work down a list
- The order you are required to work through
- Edge protection versus a harness: the honest comparison
- Why "harness or nothing" is a false choice
- The controls that are not about falling
- Treat every roof as fragile until someone competent says otherwise
- What is likely to be fragile
- Fragile roofing and asbestos: recognise it, do not touch it
- Skylights and penetrations: the holes that are already there
- Pitch and surface decide whether you can stay put
- Getting on and off is part of the job, not the bit before it
- Weather changes the roof underneath you
- Heat, sun and the roof cavity
- When are ladders and safe work procedures actually enough?
- An anchor point on a roof proves less than you think
- Fall arrest without a rescue plan is an unfinished control
- Kit that has caught a fall is finished until someone says otherwise
- When roof work becomes high risk construction work
- The fall height that triggers a SWMS. Check your own state
- On the job: a leak, an old roof and a keen customer
- The six things to carry off the roof
Who This Course Is For
Roofers, plumbers, electricians, solar and antenna installers, air-conditioning and HVAC technicians, gutter cleaners, pest and maintenance staff and anyone else whose work takes them onto a roof. Also written for the supervisors, builders, building owners, strata managers and facility managers who plan, schedule or engage roof work and need to recognise what a safe job looks like before it starts.
Written by Kam Askari, Managing Director of Creative Directions Management Consulting Pty Ltd, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 Lead Auditor. MBA, Graduate Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety, MAICD. Checked against the sources listed below.
Sources and Legal References
This course is aligned to 20 official sources. Legal and regulatory references checked between 31 August 2026 and 31 October 2026.
Sources and Further Reading
This course draws on the following official sources. Always rely on the current version on the regulator’s website.
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2012 (Tas)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Act 2011 (ACT)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 (NT)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationOccupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic)As at 31/08/2026
- LegislationOccupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Vic)As at 31/08/2026
- Regulator guidanceSafe Work Australia, Working at heightsAs at 31/08/2026
- Australian StandardAS/NZS 1891As at 03/09/2026
- Australian StandardAS/NZS 4994As at 03/09/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (ACT)As at 31/10/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Regulations 2011 (NT)As at 31/10/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)As at 31/10/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Regulations 2012 (SA)As at 13/09/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety Regulations 2022 (Tas)As at 31/10/2026
- LegislationWork Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022 (WA)As at 31/10/2026
Always rely on the current version on the regulator’s website.
Seven day refund if you have not started
Or
For employers and teams
Buy Seats for Your Team
$49.00 per seat, inc GST
Total inc GST$245.00
Or
What You Get
Certificate of Completion
This is to certify that
has successfully completed
All learning modules and the final assessment
Kam Askari
Director, Creative Directions Management Consulting Pty Ltd
This is a certificate of completion of a non-accredited professional development course. It is not a nationally recognised qualification, a VET statement of attainment, a competency card, a licence, or evidence of competency. It is issued by Creative Directions Management Consulting Pty Ltd, which is not a Registered Training Organisation.
Sample layout. Certificate ID WP-SAMPLE-0001 verifies as Hazardous Manual Tasks and Manual Handling Safety.
- Certificate verified by its ID
- 100% online, self-paced
- Six months of access
Bought for yourself: six months of access from the day you pay. Team seat: six months from the day the worker activates their code.
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