New Government Guidance (19th September): Building Safety Act 2022 for Accountable Persons

The Government has issued new guidance for Accountable Persons. Ark has demystified what this means for your building's risk and safety. 

Today (19^th September 2023) the Government issued new guidance for Accountable Persons relating to several Building Safety Act 2022 issues including:

• Assessing safety risks in high-rise residential buildings.
• Managing safety risks in high-rise residential buildings.
• Safety management systems for high-rise residential buildings.
• Preparing a resident engagement strategy.
• Preparing a safety case report; and
• Safety cases for a high-rise residential building.
  
  

This new guidance states that from the 1^st October 2023 Principal and Accountable Persons should:

• Assess the risk of fire spread and structural failure within your building.
• Set up and maintain an effective system for managing the risk of fire spread or structural failure in your building known as a Building Safety Management System.
• Prepare a Resident Engagement Strategy.
• Prepare a Safety Case Report – based upon your safety case.

as soon as possible when the building is or becomes occupied or when you become the Principal Accountable Person.

When you have been asked to apply for your Building Assessment Certificate by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) you must submit a copy of your current Safety Case Report as well as your Resident Engagement Strategy as part of that application. You should not apply for the certificate until you are asked to do so by the BSR which is expected to start in April 2024.

The guidance clearly states that Accountable and Principal Accountable Persons must take all reasonable steps to prevent building safety risks (the risk of spread of fire or structural failure) from happening and to reduce the severity of any incidents if they do happen. What is a “reasonable step” depends on your building’s individual circumstances and risks. The actions you take should be proportionate to the building safety risks.

How you organise and manage your building’s safety risks is just as important as the physical measures you put in place. You should look at how you plan, organise, control, monitor, and review your activities. All these aspects should appear and be delivered through, your Building Safety Management System. Your safety case report should include a summary of the Building Safety Management Systems in place for the whole building to manage building safety risks. This is essential to show how risks are being properly managed. To do this, Principal Accountable Persons must use information from each Accountable Person about the management system they use in their parts of the building.

Finally, your Resident Engagement Strategy should be appropriate to the demographics within the building and focus on how residents wish to be engaged. It should cover the information you will provide residents, how you will consult with them, how you will collect and use their opinions and measure and review president participation. Once the strategy has been developed this needs to be distributed to all Accountable Persons, residents (over the age of 16) and owners of the dwellings themselves. The strategy needs to be reviewed at least every 2 years, after each consultation and after a mandatory occurrence being reported to the BSR.

To learn more about how Ark can assist you in effectively managing your building safety risks, develop and implement a Building Safety Management System, prepare both your resident Engagement Strategy and Safety Case Report, click here to arrange a call with a member of our team.