Safe Chemicals, Safe Roofs: Why Biocide Certification and Health & Safety Really Matter on Your Roof and Gutters

It’s 10:12am on a breezy Friday in Weybridge.

James, a 38-year-old portfolio landlord, is standing in the car park of a 1980s block he owns – 24 flats, mostly home to people in their 20s, 30s and early-retirement couples in their 60s.

He’s meeting a contractor to “sort the moss” on the roof.

A van pulls up. Two men jump out in tracksuit bottoms and hoodies. No company name. No PPE. No safety signage. One of them grabs a ladder, the other drags out a drum of anonymous liquid.

“We’ll just blast it off with this stuff, mate – strong gear, gets it done in half a day.”

No talk of what the chemical is. No method statement. No insurance details. No plan for working near the fragile rooflights.

James feels his stomach tighten.

He’s got hundreds of thousands of pounds tied up in this building. The service charge pays for maintenance. The residents – from 26-year-old first-time buyers to 78-year-old widows – trust him to keep it safe.

Five minutes later, he quietly tells them he’ll “come back to them” and walks away.

The company he calls next is different.

• City & Guilds-certified technicians
  
  
• Biocide training aligned with HSE expectations
  
  
• A Health & Safety Officer who has already risk-assessed the roof type
  
  
• A clear explanation of what product they’ll use, why it’s safe, and how they’ll protect residents, pets and gardens
  
  

Same moss.
Same roof.
Totally different risk profile.

Why Roofs and Chemicals Are Not a DIY Corner of the Budget

It’s easy to underestimate roof and gutter work.

From the ground, it looks simple: go up, scrape moss, spray chemical, job done.

The numbers tell a different story:

• Falls from height are the leading cause of workplace fatalities in Britain, accounting for more than a quarter of all fatal accidents in some recent datasets – almost 1 in 3.
  
  
• HSE data shows that falls through fragile roof surfaces (old fibre-cement sheets, rooflights, etc.) make up around 22% of fatal falls from height in construction. Those “small jobs” – cleaning, minor patching – are over-represented in the statistics.
  
  
• The HSE’s own roof-work guidance stresses that clients and building owners share responsibility for planning safe work – it’s not just a contractor’s problem.
  
  

On the chemical side:

• Specialist biocide training providers point out that HSE expects professional users of biocides to be properly trained, especially when using professional-grade products.
  
  
• City & Guilds-assured cleaning and exterior training programmes cover chemical safety, environmental impact and working in high-risk areas, not just “how to get things clean”.
  
  

So when you’re choosing someone to clean roofs and gutters on a £1m family home or a block housing 70- and 80-year-olds, the question isn’t just “How cheap?” It’s:

• Who is putting chemicals on my building?
  
  
• Who is stepping on that roof?
  
  
• Who is carrying the legal and safety burden if something goes wrong?
  
  

That’s where biocide certification and a dedicated Health & Safety Officer change the picture.

Feature 1: Biocide Certified (City & Guilds Assured)

What That Actually Means

When we say our team is biocide certified and City & Guilds assured, we’re talking about structured, recognised training – not a quick YouTube video.

These programmes cover, in plain English:

• What different exterior biocides are
  
  
• How they behave on tiles, render, stone, tarmac and decking
  
  
• How to dilute and apply them safely
  
  
• How to protect residents, pets, plants and watercourses
  
  
• How to record and store chemicals correctly
  
  

So when our crew soft-washes a mossy roof in Epsom, they know:

• Exactly what is in the sprayer
  
  
• Exactly how much to apply
  
  
• Exactly where the runoff will go
  
  

They’re not just “splashing some stuff on and hoping”.

Why It Matters to You (and Your Residents)

1. Safer for People

The residents under that roof might be:

• A 29-year-old working from home with a toddler and a dog
  
  
• A 54-year-old leaseholder worried about long-term damp
  
  
• A 79-year-old with breathing issues
  
  

Proper biocide training means:

• Chemicals are controlled and targeted, not drifting into windows, gardens or play areas.
  
  
• Application is timed and signposted to keep people away from freshly treated surfaces.
  
  
• Communication is clear: what’s been used, when, and any temporary precautions (e.g. “keep pets off this path for 24 hours”).
  
  

2. Safer for the Building Fabric

City & Guilds-aligned training and professional soft-wash courses emphasise using the least aggressive effective method, rather than blasting everything at high pressure.

That means:

• Lower risk of cracked tiles, blown render or damaged pointing
  
  
• Less long-term water ingress
  
  
• Biocides selected and diluted to clean effectively without stripping years off the life of your roof or surfaces
  
  

For a mid-sized block roof, the difference between good and bad practice is not just cosmetic. Poor methods can easily lead to £5,000–£15,000 in remedial works over a few years. Good methods can extend useful life and protect asset value.

3. Kinder to the Environment

Biocide courses and guidance are explicit about runoff, drains and surrounding planting.

Used properly:

• Products are applied at recommended rates
  
  
• Sensitive planting and ponds are protected or avoided
  
  
• You’re not gradually poisoning the shared outdoor spaces your residents enjoy
  
  

For estates with shared gardens, courtyards and play areas, that matters to everyone – from young families in their 30s to retired gardeners in their 70s.

Feature 2: Health & Safety Officer on Staff

What They Do (In Real Life, Not on Paper)

Having a Health & Safety Officer isn’t just a line in a brochure.

Their job is to help make sure that every roof, gutter and path job is planned and carried out safely, in line with HSE principles for roof work, falls from height and slips/trips.

They:

• Review the type and age of the roof – tiles, felt, fragile sheets, rooflights
  
  
• Assess access options – ladders, scaffold tower, mobile platform, roof anchors, restraint systems
  
  
• Look at who uses the building – frail residents, children, carers, delivery drivers
  
  
• Help write risk assessments and method statements (RAMS) in plain language
  
  

In practice, that means:

• No one is “just hopping up on the roof for a quick look”.
  
  
• Fragile surfaces are identified and either avoided or properly protected.
  
  
• Wet, treated surfaces at ground level are signed and coned to reduce slip risk as people pass through.
  
  

Why It Matters in Numbers

Recent safety commentary shows that falls from height still account for well over a quarter of all fatal workplace accidents in Britain – in some years closer to a third.

HSE also highlights that:

• Falls through fragile roof surfaces alone make up about 22% of fatal fall-from-height injuries in construction.
  
  
• Workers doing “small, short-term maintenance and cleaning jobs” are over-represented in accident statistics.
  
  

In other words:

It’s exactly the sort of “quick moss clean” or “half-day gutter job” that often gets people hurt.

A dedicated Health & Safety Officer makes these quick jobs safer and more structured.

What That Means for You

• For a housing association or trust, you can tell your board and regulators that exterior work is planned with formal safety oversight – not just left to whoever turns up in a van.
  
  
• For a block manager in your 30s or 40s, you sleep better knowing you haven’t put someone on a fragile roof with no plan.
  
  
• For a care home operator, you can show families and inspectors that contractors working around frail residents are following serious safety procedures.
  
  

And if the worst ever did happen, you’d have a defensible trail of risk assessments, RAMS and contractor competence, not an empty file.

How Biocide Certification and H&S Tie into PPM and Compliance

Organisations like RICS and CIBSE have been saying the same thing for years in slightly different language:

• Use planned preventative maintenance (PPM) to keep building fabric safe and performing well.
  
  
• Keep clear records and logbooks of what’s been done, when and how.
  
  

In practice, for your roofs and gutters, that looks like:

1. Regular inspections and cleans – not just waiting for leaks
   
   
2. Biocide-treated roofs that stay cleaner for longer, reducing repeat access
   
   
3. Safe, planned access methods overseen by a Health & Safety Officer
   
   
4. Visual reports and chemical/application records you can file and share
   
   

The upside over a 5- to 10-year period:

• Fewer leaks and damp issues (which can easily run to £1,000–£3,000 per flat in internal remedial works)
  
  
• Fewer urgent access jobs on wet roofs in bad weather
  
  
• A stronger position with insurers, regulators and resident groups when they ask, “What are you doing about roof and gutter maintenance?”
  
  

For high-value homes, blocks, housing schemes and care settings, this is not overkill. It’s simply what good stewardship looks like in 2025.

Who This Particularly Benefits

High-End Homeowners & Their Agents

• Protect roofs on £1m+ homes without harsh, damaging methods
  
  
• Reassure buyers in their 30s, 40s and 50s that the property has been maintained properly, not “bodged”
  
  
• Keep neighbours – often in their 60s and 70s – comfortable about strangers working overhead
  
  

Block Managers and Freeholders

• Demonstrate that you’re using trained, competent contractors for high-risk work
  
  
• Reduce the likelihood of a roof or gutter-related claim that could cost tens of thousands
  
  
• Align with RICS-style best practice on PPM and record-keeping
  
  

Housing Associations, Trusts and Care Home Operators

• Many schemes have a high proportion of residents aged 65+, with mobility or health issues
  
  
• Biocide training + safety oversight reduces risk of both falls and chemical exposure
  
  
• Provides strong evidence for regulators and internal audit that exterior risk is actively managed
  
  

How Surrey Maintenance Puts All This Into Practice

When you ask us to deal with moss, algae or dirty roofs and gutters, you’re not just hiring someone with a pressure washer.

You’re getting:

• City & Guilds-aligned, biocide-certified technicians
  
  
• A dedicated Health & Safety Officer involved in planning work on high-risk areas
  
  
• Methods that follow HSE guidance on roof work and slips/trips, not work against it
  
  
• Visual reports, so you can see exactly what was cleaned, treated and checked
  
  
• £5M public liability insurance, in case something ever goes wrong
  
  

It’s all designed so that, whether you’re:

• A 32-year-old block manager,
  
  
• A 51-year-old portfolio landlord,
  
  
• Or a 72-year-old trustee on a housing charity board,
  
  

…you can look at the paperwork, the photos and the methods and feel comfortable that the job is being done properly.

If you’d like roof and gutter cleaning that’s safe, certified and properly risk-assessed – not just “someone with a drum and a ladder” – we’re here to help.

Whether you manage a single high-end home or a portfolio of blocks, estates or care settings across Surrey and Southwest London, we can design a programme that keeps roofs clean, residents safe and auditors satisfied.

If you’re interested in hassle-free, safety-led exterior cleaning with biocide-certified technicians and a dedicated Health & Safety Officer behind every job, get in touch and we’ll happily provide a free, no-obligation quote within 24 hours.