Regular Inspections to Ensure Your Structure is Safe for Continued Use
Borrowing from one of our earlier posts, we’ll be looking at the importance of regular roof inspections. An important fact to consider is the application of the Construction Regulations of 2014. This has been gazetted over 10 years ago (in Construction Regulation 2003 9(4)) and yet, very few property owners are aware of this until a structural failure occurs and a claim arises.
As part of the OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT 85 OF 1993, and CONSTRUCTION REGULATIONS, 2014, Section 11(2) states:
“An owner of a structure must ensure that:
- Inspection of that structure are carried out periodically by competent persons in order to render the structure safe for continued use;
- That the inspections contemplated in a) above are carried out at least once every six months for the first two years, and thereafter yearly;
- The structure is maintained in such a manner that it remains safe for continued use;
- The records of inspections and maintenance are kept and made available on request to an inspector”
Even though legal claims pertaining to this depends very much on evidence to prove negligence and might be hard to prove, owners of commercial property are urged to comply to this regulation to ensure safe working environments and avoid any possible claims. The roofs that are most commonly susceptible to structural failure have been found to be large span (over 10m) timber roofs with concrete roof tiles. The good news is that this reduces the risk for most residential roofs, but on the other hand includes most commercial buildings.
REMEMBER: The risk of not doing anything about your roof might be much higher than the cost of regular roof inspections that can identify vulnerabilities early.
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