Federal OSHA requires a roofing company to run a safety program with frequent and regular job-site inspections by a competent person you name. Every worker exposed to falls also needs fall protection training, certified in writing with a signature.
The template below covers both, along with fall protection by roof type and the steps after a serious injury. OSHA doesn’t prescribe a format, so change it to fit how your crews work. It follows the federal standards and isn’t legal advice, and states that run their own OSHA plan can set rules that are at least as effective.
OSHA asks for a competent person’s inspections, and a monitor only if you use one
A roofing contractor on r/Roofing asked, “Is there any regulation that states a supervisor needs to be on site,” noting that nothing in the construction standards says so specifically. None of the federal rules on this page requires a supervisor on site the whole time. What they do ask for comes in two places.
The general rule (1926.20(b)) says your safety program must provide for frequent and regular inspections of job sites, materials and equipment by competent persons you designate. Write down who does them and how often.
The roof-level rule (1926.502(h)) applies only if a safety monitor is your fall protection. The monitor must then be a competent person on the same roof surface as the crew, within sight of them, close enough to warn them by voice, and with no other duties that pull attention away. A foreman who is also tearing off shingles can’t be the monitor.
Name a competent person for each crew in writing, and if you use a monitor, give that person nothing else to do while the crew works.
The fall protection OSHA accepts depends on the roof
- Steep roofs: guardrails with toeboards, safety nets, or personal fall arrest systems when the edges are 6 feet or more above a lower level (1926.501(b)(11)).
- Low-slope roofs: guardrails, nets or personal fall arrest, or a warning line combined with one of those or with a safety monitor. A safety monitor alone is allowed only on roofs 50 feet wide or less (1926.501(b)(10)).
- Warning lines: with no mechanical equipment in use, the line goes at least 6 feet back from the edge (1926.502(f)).
- Residential work: guardrails, nets or personal fall arrest, unless you can show those are infeasible or would create a greater hazard. Only then can you use a written fall protection plan instead, and the burden of showing it is on you (1926.501(b)(13)).
Fall protection was OSHA’s most cited standard in fiscal year 2025. OSHA’s penalty page lists up to $16,550 for each serious violation and $165,514 for each willful or repeated one.
Write down which method each crew uses on each roof type, and have that gear on the truck before the job starts.
A downloaded fall protection plan won’t satisfy OSHA on its own
The written plan for residential work (1926.502(k)) has to be prepared by a qualified person specifically for that site and kept at that site. It has to document why conventional fall protection is infeasible or more dangerous there, and any change needs a qualified person’s approval.
That makes it a document for one house. If you rely on one, have a qualified person write it for the address, and keep the copy at the job.
Fall protection training has to be certified in writing
Every worker exposed to fall hazards has to be trained by a competent person on eight topics (1926.503). Among them are the nature of the fall hazards, how to set up, inspect and take down the systems you use, the role of safety monitors, and the worker’s part in any fall protection plan.
The certification needs the worker’s name, the training dates and the signature of the trainer or employer. Retrain when a worker shows he doesn’t understand it, or when the work or the equipment changes. Fall protection training was OSHA’s seventh most cited standard in fiscal year 2025.
One commenter on r/Roofing described a larger firm that keeps a training log for every worker and a master log for each crew. Keep a signed record for each worker, and add a crew log if you run more than one crew.
Copy this safety plan template and fill in your own names
Roofing safety program: [Company name] Effective date: ______ Last reviewed: ______ by ______
1. Who is responsible
- Owner or safety lead: ______ Phone: ______
- Competent person for each crew: Crew ______: ______ / Crew ______: ______
- Qualified person who writes site-specific fall protection plans (residential, if used): ______
2. Job-site inspections (1926.20(b))
- Inspected by: the crew’s competent person
- How often: ______
- What is checked: the site, materials and equipment
- Where the log is kept: ______
3. Fall protection by roof type (1926.501 and 1926.502)
- Steep roofs: ☐ guardrails with toeboards ☐ safety nets ☐ personal fall arrest
- Low-slope roofs: ☐ guardrails ☐ nets ☐ personal fall arrest ☐ warning line plus ______ ☐ safety monitor alone (roof 50 ft wide or less)
- Warning line distance without mechanical equipment: at least 6 ft from the edge
- Safety monitor, when used: ______ (on the roof, in sight, in voice range, no other duties)
- Residential: conventional method ______. If infeasible, a site-specific plan by ______, kept at the job.
4. Ladders and scaffolds
- Competent person who inspects them: ______
5. Training (1926.503)
- Trainer (competent person): ______
- Topics: fall hazards on our roofs; setting up, inspecting and taking down our systems; the role of safety monitors; each worker’s part in any fall protection plan; the remaining topics in 1926.503
- Record: Worker name | Training dates | Trainer or employer signature
- Retrain when: a worker shows he doesn’t understand it, or the work or equipment changes
6. Serious injury or death
- Emergency: 911. Nearest hospital: listed on each job’s risk assessment
- Report to OSHA: a death within 8 hours; an inpatient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours
- How: 1-800-321-OSHA (1-800-321-6742), the nearest OSHA Area Office (______), or OSHA’s online form
- Person who makes the report: ______
- Insurance carrier: ______ Attorney: ______
Owner signature: ______ Date: ______
Run this risk assessment at each roof before the crew climbs
- Address: ______ Date: ______ Competent person on this job: ______
- Roof: ☐ steep ☐ low-slope Residential job: ☐ yes ☐ no
- Edges 6 ft or more above a lower level? ☐ yes ☐ no
- Roof width, if using a monitor alone: ______ ft
- Unprotected edges and openings found: ______
- Fall protection method: ______ Set up and inspected by: ______
- Site-specific fall protection plan at the job, if used: ☐ yes ☐ n/a
- Ladders and scaffolds inspected: ☐ yes
- Materials and equipment inspected: ☐ yes
- Every worker on site has a signed training record: ☐ yes
- New equipment or new kind of work since last training: ☐ no ☐ yes, retrain first
- Nearest hospital: ______
- Signed: ______
A death on the job must be reported to OSHA within 8 hours
An owner on r/Roofing asked others what they do after a fatality: “How do you handle it legally and emotionally?” OSHA’s reporting rule (1904.39) gives you 8 hours from when you learn of a work-related death to report it, and 24 hours for an inpatient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye.
A death counts if it happens within 30 days of the incident, so a worker who dies in the hospital two weeks after a fall still has to be reported. Report by phone or in person to the nearest Area Office, at 1-800-321-6742, or through OSHA’s online form.
For the insurance side, see Roofing Workers’ Comp and General Liability: What It Costs and How Audits Work. Put OSHA’s number and your carrier’s on the first page of the plan and in every truck.
Do these before the next job
- Name a competent person for each crew in writing.
- Pick a fall protection method for each roof type and stock the trucks.
- Give the monitor no other work when monitoring is the method.
- Keep a signed training record for every worker.
- Have a qualified person write any residential fall protection plan for that address.
- Run the risk assessment at each roof.
- Put the reporting steps and OSHA’s number in every truck.
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