When ascending the hatch ladder, you could be at an unsafe height, and want to ensure three points of contact at all times. This may require you to review if the ladder has extendible stiles to help with stepping off of the hatch ladder onto the rooftop safely.
Once you are on the roof, oftentimes the hatch door remains left open while work is being done. This is to ensure easy and quick access to enter back into the building, or maybe there is an older hatch in place, and as such, there is a risk that it could become jammed when closed. Leaving the hatch door open creates an opening on the rooftop, ultimately creating a fall hazard that wasn’t there to begin with.
The other common risk associated with roof hatches is that the hatch ladder is often installed on the inside of an outside wall, meaning that once you are on the roof you could be only a foot or two from the edge of the roof and immediately at risk of a fall.
Distractions are also a concern, as it’s quite easy to be focused on the task at hand and forget that there is a hatch opened behind you. Especially if it was opened by someone else while you were working.