Risk assessment - PV panel installation

Installing solar panels on pitched roofs can present risks, which left unmanaged could cause accidents and potentially put you on the wrong side of the law. To ensure this doesn’t happen, you should complete a risk assessment  which identifies all “significant” hazards and appropriate “reasonable” ways of reducing risks to an acceptable level.

Managing the risks

To help you identify the hazards associated with this type of work and the appropriate ways of controlling them, use our example Risk Assessment - PV Panel Installation. It covers the generic hazards associated with this type of activity and suggests control measures to reduce risks to an acceptable level.

You should ensure your document only addresses “significant” hazards, i.e. any that could and, more importantly are likely to, cause an accident or injury

Make your instructions clear

Don’t include activities in your document that simply don’t need to be there. Work to the principle that if there is any chance of your staff being unaware of the safe way of doing something, then you will need to make it clear in your document. Finally, always ensure that any control measures you identify and follow are decided upon the principle of “so far as is reasonably practicable”.  

Note. The list of potential hazards is not exhaustive. However, for your risk assessment to be considered suitable and sufficient in the eyes of the law it must accurately reflect the “significant” hazards found when installing solar panels.