TA-IN-09 · Insulation
Working in Roof Spaces Task Analysis
Work within residential and commercial roof spaces including insulation, cabling, ducting, equipment and inspections.
What you get
One editable Word document covering working in roof spaces for Insulation: the task broken into steps, the hazards at each step, the controls, and a 5 by 5 risk matrix with residual ratings. Site fields and a crew sign-on are built in.
A Task Analysis is also known as a JSA (Job Safety Analysis) or JSEA. It covers each step of the job, the hazards and the controls.
The steps and hazards it covers
| Step | Hazards |
|---|---|
| Plan, prepare and confirm competency | Workers without the required training, competence or authorisation performing the task - incidents arising from lack of skill, competency or authorityDefective or unsafe plant, powered equipment, leads or attachments failing in useWorking on other people's sites, occupied premises or around the public |
| Assess the roof space before entry | Unknown hazards including loose-fill asbestos, heat and weak structure on entryBiological exposure from vermin, bird droppings and wasp or insect nests in the void |
| Access the roof space via hatch and ladder | Falls entering and exiting through the ceiling hatch or ladder access |
| Move within the roof space and manage heat | Stepping off structural members through plasterboard causing a fall through the ceiling to rooms belowHeat stress and heat stroke in confined, restricted and hot roof voids exceeding 50 to 60 degrees |
| Work near services and insulation in the void | Shock from live cables, junctions and old wiring run across membersFire from insulation displaced over or covering non-IC-rated downlights, flues and heat-producing fittingsSMF and glasswool fibre irritation, dust and possible asbestos-containing debrisStrains and entrapment from restricted access and sustained crouching or crawling postures |
| Provide for emergency egress and rescue | Heat collapse or electrical incident leaving the worker unreachable in the void |
| Complete, reinstate and demobilise | Hazards left in the void such as boards, tools and insulation over fittings |
Each hazard comes with its control measures, an initial and residual risk rating and the person responsible, ready to check against your job.
How to use it
Read it against the actual job. Delete the hazards that are not there, add the ones that are, fill the site fields, then brief the crew and get every name on the sign-on. A document nobody has read is a piece of paper. One the crew helped finish supports worker consultation and records the agreed work method. Engagement under HSWA ss58 to 59 is an ongoing process of seeking and considering workers’ views, so the signed page is evidence of part of it rather than the whole duty.
About Insulation Task Analysis
This is one of the Task Analysis documents written for Insulation crews. The trade covers ceiling, wall and underfloor insulation, restricted roof spaces, clearances to electrical fittings, heat stress.
See every Insulation document, or the whole pack for $199.99. Need 5 or more templates from this trade? The pack costs less than buying them individually, and saves $49.96 at 5.
Where it sits in the law
New Zealand does not require a document of this name. The duty is to manage risk so far as is reasonably practicable (HSWA s36) and to engage workers on it (ss58 to 59). Use a Task Analysis to plan the work, identify the hazards and communicate the controls to your crew. That is also how you evidence both duties.
WorkSafe names “a task analysis, safe work method statement (SWMS), job safety analysis or equivalent planning document” as the same thing done under different headings, and Site Safe titles one of its own SSSP forms “Task Analysis (TA) and Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS)”. So if the paperwork you have been sent asks for a TA, a SWMS or a JSA, this is the document it means, written to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. Only the name changes; the hazards, controls and ratings are the same either way.
Where this sits in your SSSP
A Site-Specific Safety Plan (SSSP) covers the whole job: who is on site, how hazards get reported, what happens in an emergency. A Task Analysis covers one task inside it. They are not the same document. Site Safe’s SSSP pack runs to ten forms, and the Task Analysis is Form 10, filed behind the plan itself.
So a main contractor who asks which SSSP pack you are using, and then asks for a TA covering working in roof spaces, has asked you for two separate things. This is the second one. Keep it with your SSSP for the job and bring it to the pre-start briefing, because the value is in the crew having read it before the work starts.
Same task, other trades
This task exists in other trades too, and each edition is written for that crew. Compare all 4, or go straight to Electrical, HVAC & Refrigeration, Roofing.