SoftWash UK News Bulletin | Roof Safety and Drought Update, Week of 9 November 2026

Mark Cave

Welcome to the SoftWash UK news update, brought to you by SoftWash UK. I'm Mark Cave, and today is Monday the ninth of November, twenty twenty six. Every Monday, we'll bring you a roundup of the previous week's news and what it means for exterior cleaning contractors. Let's get into it.

Mark Cave

A contractor in Lancashire has been fined twenty thousand pounds after a worker fell roughly ten metres through a fragile barn roof. HSE reported it on the fifth of November. The company is AJ Riley Landscapes and Building Limited, and the worker was replacing a damaged skylight on the twenty fourth of February last year. He suffered fractures to his ribs, vertebrae and pelvis. He survived, and HSE's own inspector said it could easily have been fatal.

Mark Cave

Now, this was skylight replacement, not roof cleaning. But read what HSE actually found, because it applies to us. They found the work wasn't adequately planned, and that appropriate control measures weren't in place to stop a fall through a fragile surface. They also found the workers hadn't received enough training to be competent in the controls named in the company's own risk assessment. The company pleaded guilty to Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act at Warrington Magistrates' Court on the third of November, and was fined twenty thousand pounds plus four thousand nine hundred and fifty five pounds in costs.

Mark Cave

Look at that second finding again. The company had a risk assessment. The paper existed. The problem was that it didn't turn into a workable plan, and the people on site weren't trained to use what it said. A risk assessment in a folder in the van protects nobody. It has to become a physical way of getting to the work, and competent people who know how to use it. For softwashing and roof cleaning, that means checking that everyone involved has the appropriate training for the work and the safety controls they are expected to use. Make sure they can put the plan into practice, and keep evidence of their training and competence. A risk assessment and method statement on their own are not enough. If the evidence shows people were not properly trained, a business could face enforcement and prosecution. The lesson from this case is that planning and training both matter.

Mark Cave

To be clear, this is not a new regulation. These are existing work at height duties, and HSE guidance says work must be properly planned, supervised and carried out by competent people. So what does that mean for you before the next roof job? First, identify fragile surfaces. Skylights, old cement sheets, deteriorated tiles, conservatory roofs. If you can't tell what you're standing on, you don't stand on it. Second, look at methods that avoid putting a person on the roof. Ground based reach, a tower, a MEWP. That's my practical view, not something the HSE report prescribes. And third, if safe access can't be established, change the method, bring in specialist access support, or walk away. No roof clean is worth that fall.

Mark Cave

If you're in any doubt about your ability to softwash safely or meet your health and safety responsibilities, don't just hope for the best. Work on your continued professional development and seek training relevant to the services you provide. You can find SoftWash UK training at SoftwashTraining dot UK. Choose training that addresses the risks and equipment involved in your work, and remember that a certificate alone does not establish competence. Make sure you can apply what you've learned on the job, and keep your skills up to date.

Mark Cave

Now the drought. This connects to our earlier bulletins, where I made the point that Environment Agency drought stages and water company restrictions are different things. This week shows why that matters. The Environment Agency's update for the thirtieth of October to the fifth of November says Essex and Suffolk Water moved its Essex water resource zone to drought level 3a on the second of November. Its other zones stay at level 2. Its temporary use ban remains in place. The report did not announce a new business use ban.

Mark Cave

South East Water and South West Water, in its Wimbleball zone, have applied for non essential use ban drought orders. Those are applications awaiting decisions. They are not active bans. So don't tell a customer there's a commercial ban where there isn't one, and don't assume there isn't one coming either.

Mark Cave

On the wider picture, England had an average of just two millimetres of rain that week. October was wetter than average, at one hundred and twelve percent of the long term average, and reservoir storage rose to sixty point one percent. But that's still seventeen percent below average for the time of year. River flows fell at all reporting sites, and eight reservoirs or groups are still exceptionally low, including Hanningfield and Ardingly. The EA says at least one hundred and twenty percent of average rainfall is needed over the next six months for the whole country to be out of drought by spring. So no, the rain didn't end the drought. And equally, it doesn't mean all exterior cleaning is banned.

Mark Cave

What do you do? Check your water supplier's current rules for every job, before you agree how a water dependent clean will be done. Look at the supplier's own website, because the drought status is a signal, but the supplier's enforceable restrictions are what bind you. Then put what you've found in the quote, so the customer knows the method and the water source. Same job, different postcode, different answer. That's the reality right now.

Mark Cave

Finally, the quick roundup. For this update, I couldn't verify any new GB biocides decision affecting sodium hypochlorite or DDAC. No significant softwashing equipment change, and no new exterior cleaning training standard either. That's it. Sources for both stories are in the episode notes. Check the facts yourself, plan the access, check the water, and stay safe out there.