FMJ.CO.UK HEALTH & SAFETY FOCUS
NOVEMBER 2020 39
HIGH PRAISE
There has been an intense focus
on building and fire safety
following the Grenfell Tower
fire in 2017(i). In response to this
Dame Judith Hackitt chaired an
independent review of building
regulations and fire safety which
has led to the new proposals
being put forward. The Dra
Building Safety Bill(ii) was borne
out of the government response
to the Building a Safer Future
recommendations from Dame
Hackitt.
The government has accepted
the review’s recommendations
and this Dra Bill, which, alongside
the Fire Safety Bill(iii) and fire safety
consultation(iv), will set out how it
will be helping to ensure the most
significant improvements to building
safety in nearly 40 years.
The Dra Building Safety Bill will
enable the government to bring
forward necessary reforms to the
service and maintenance of high
risk buildings, with a clear focus on
improving both building and fire
safety. The Government’s objective
is for the long-lasting reform of the
building safety system so that people
will feel, and will be, safer in their
homes. And, crucially, they can trust
in the competency of those who
are responsible for the service and
maintenance of their building.
The Bill is e ectively enabling
legislation. Once passed, it will give
government the powers to make
changes to the law regarding building
safety. Until these new laws come into
being, the smoke control service and
maintenance regulations will continue
to come under the requirements of the
Regulatory Reform (fire safety) Order
2005(v) (RR(FS)O). To understand what
your legal obligations for maintaining
smoke control are under the RRO, you
can download the whitepaper(vi) for
more information.
However, changes are also expected
to be made to the RR(FS)O, for
example, common areas, such as
external walls, balconies and front
doors of apartments are expected to
come into scope.
What this means for the service and
maintenance of existing buildings:
The Building Safety Bill has
introduced the concept of the
‘Accountable Person’ or Duty Holder,
and a Building Safety Manager
(BSM) in each building. This will
mean that there will be someone
who is permanently tasked with
holding the responsibility for
keeping residents safe in high rise
buildings – those that are 18 metres
and above.
The BSM will be responsible for
ensuring all life safety systems
are fully functioning and that
maintenance is carried out
professionally and on time.
The ‘Accountable Person’ will need
to listen and act upon any concerns
raised by residents about their
building safety. This will mean that
residents are given a louder voice as
to what service and maintenance is
required in their building.
Residents and leaseholders of
these buildings will both be
given full access to vital safety
information about their building.
This will give residents more clarity
when it comes to the service and
maintenance of their building.
In addition to the ‘Accountable
Person’, there will also be a new
national regulator for building
safety, within the Health and Safety
Executive. Their role will be to
manage the accountable persons
and ensure that their jobs are being
carried out correctly.
The regulator will also oversee the
appointment of a panel of residents
who will therefore be given another
platform to raise any concerns about
the safety of their building. And
importantly to give the residents a
role in the process of the service and
maintenance of their building.
The regulator is there to improve the
competence of people responsible
for managing and overseeing
building work.
It is hoped that the implementation
of an accountable person and a
building safety regulator will lead
to higher standards of building
safety and performance across
all buildings. And it will make the
process of servicing and maintaining
a building a more transparent
operation for the residents of these
buildings.
What you need to check under the
new rules
Your service supplier should be
fully equipped to comply with
any changes implemented by the
Building Safety Bill for building
managers.
The Dra Building Safety Bill will
establish a more stringent regime to
strengthen the management of fire
and structural safety risks for new
and existing buildings
The stringent new set of rules for
high-rise residential buildings
contained in the dra Bill will apply
when buildings are designed,
constructed and then later occupied.
At each of these three stages, it will
be completely clear who exactly
is responsible for managing the
potential risks and what is required
to move to the next stage enabling a
‘golden thread’ of vital information
about the building to be gathered
over time.
Aspects of building safety such
as Smoke control is a necessity
for buildings and especially those
buildings considered of a higher risk.
Smoke control is vital to protect
means of escape and to ensure that
fire-fighting stairs remain usable.
As pioneers of the science behind
smoke control since the 1950s Colt
is acutely aware of the potential
danger that a poorly maintained
smoke control system can lead to.
The new Building Safety Bill
protects buildings from firms that
are primarily motivated by cutting
costs ahead of ensuring the safety
of the building they are contracted
to work on.
The Dra Building Safety Bill means
that those who are responsible
for the building and management
of higher risk buildings will need
to actively demonstrate how they
have taken resident safety into
consideration in their work.
The regulator will be given the
power to take quick and e ective
action against those that don’t
prioritise safety, by imposing heavy
fines. New criminal o ences should
ensure that those responsible
for the building during design,
construction and operation can
be held accountable for any
shortcomings.
According to the Bill “The regulator
must provide such assistance and
encouragement to relevant persons
as it considers appropriate with a
view to facilitating their securing the
safety of people in or about higherrisk”.
Therefore, the regulator will
need to directly assure the safety of
higher risk buildings is being fully
and vigilantly considered.
Colt’s competency not only means
that we are fully confident that we
will be able to meet the rigorous
new standards outlined in the dra
Building Safety Bill, Fire Safety Bill,
and Fire Safety Order consultation, we
welcome the system of reforms that
will bring forward vital improvements
to safety standards for residents of all
buildings.
Conor Logan, Technical Director at Colt International explains why
he welcomes the Draft Building Safety Bill and what it will mean
for the service and maintenance of high-risk buildings
REFERENCE NOTES
(i) www.coltinfo.co.uk/servicemaintenance/
lp/12-smoke-controllessons
to-learn-from-grenfell.html
(ii) www.gov.uk/government/
publications/dra -building-safety-bill
(iii) www.gov.uk/government/news/firesafety
bill
(iv) www.gov.uk/government/
consultations/fire-safety
(v) www.legislation.gov.uk/
uksi/2005/1541/contents/made
(vi) https://blog.coltinfo.co.uk/downloadthe
whitepaper-maintaining-smokecontrol
systems-and-the-rro
/fire-safety
/12-smoke-control-lessons-to-learn-from-grenfell.html
/draft -building-safety-bill
/fire-safety-bill
/
/download-the-whitepaper-maintaining-smoke-control-systems-and-the-rro
