November 2022

NFRC Roofing Talk
CHECK YOUR TIMBER BATTENS
Gary Walpole, NFRC’s Health, Safety and Environment Officer, explains why roofers
must never compromise on quality or safety when it comes to battens, and points out
what to look out for when choosing fully graded roofing battens.
Due to the high demand for treated timber,
compounded by the shortages created by
conflict in Ukraine, the UK’s exit from the
EU, and the COVID-19 pandemic, it is transpiring
that there is a large volume of imported product
that is falsely stamped as BS 5534 or has been
dyed a different colour and then marketed and sold
as compliant material. Using battens that are noncompliant
does not necessarily mean a cost saving
for the contractor or the end user, as suppliers of
non-compliant battens are actually selling them for
the same price as compliant battens.
These inferior products will all have an impact on
the life expectancy of the roofs, but more
importantly it raises the concern for the health
and safety of the operatives using them.
There are also concerns that some roofers have
become complacent – if they believe they have
purchased pre-graded material they will often
use it without inspecting it, and this could be a
critical factor to their safety on the roof.
Battens supplied and fixed in accordance with
BS 5534 are designed to have adequate strength
to support the dead load imposed and wind loads
on roofs clad with tiles or slates, and may be
used as an alternative to roof ladders in line with
current guidance in the Health and Safety
Executive’s HSG 33 Health and Safety in Roof
work and INDG 284 Working on Roofs.
The use of inferior battens that do not comply
with BS 5534 has the potential to cause roof
failures and accidents. This risk of accidents
increases when the roof battens are being used
as an alternative to a roof ladder and are
therefore taking the additional live load of the
operative installing the roof. HSE guidance – HSG
33 Health and Safety in Roof Work – states that
battens must be a minimum size of 50mm x
25mm (maximum span 600mm) or
38mm x 25mm (maximum span
450mm) and meet the grading
requirements specified in BS 5534:
Code of practice for slating and tiling and
NFRC Technical Bulletin 33: Graded battens for
slating and tiling.
Non-compliant battens should not be installed.
Ungraded battens may prove weak and vulnerable
to failure should the roofer inadvertently walk on
these areas whilst covering the roof, potentially
putting roofing operatives at harm. There is also
the issue of quality assurance of the whole roof
system and the impact using inferior battens
could have on the longevity of the roof.
What to look out for:
BS 5534 states that all graded roofing battens
should be marked with the following:
• Supplier’s details
• Batten size
• Species
• Relevant Standard (in this case BS 5534)
• Third-party certification.
Supplier Details
Relevant Standard
Size Species 3rd Party Certification
Note: All battens should be individually marked.
Further checks to ensure compliance
Marking alone is not necessarily proof that the
batten has been graded correctly. However, there
are a few simple steps that can be taken to
ensure the battens you are using are compliant:
1. Ensure you are purchasing battens from a
recognised supplier who is happy to supply you
Left: Gary Walpole, NFRC.
with the relevant compliance
documentation and any third-party
certification, which should be retained
for your records.
2. Check the thickness of the batten, as BS 5534
states that a batten should be 25mm thick with a
tolerance of -0/+3mm. A roofing batten should
be 25mm and never less.
3. Check to see if any knots are present: BS 5534
states that ‘the sum of both faces can be no more
than the width, for example 38mm / 50mm’. If a
knot is visible on both sides of a batten when
added together, the overall size should not be
more than 38mm or 50mm.
4. Do not rely on a coloured roofing batten to be
compliant. Different manufacturers colour their
battens as a visual aid to indicate compliance,
however the organisations that supply
substandard products are also aware of this and
colour their battens.
5. BS 5534 graded battens should not rot: if you
see signs of rot, decay or growth on a batten, do
not use it.
Next steps for industry
NFRC has issued a Safety Alert to highlight the
issue to the wider construction sector, working
with the assistance of the recently formed
industry Timber Batten Working Group, which is
hosted by NFRC. The group is made up of leading
batten manufacturers, merchants and
contractors, and will continue to monitor the
situation and educate the industry of the risks of
using non-compliant roof battens.
Contact NFRC
www.nfrc.co.uk
@TheNFRC
16 TC NOVEMBER 2022