Health and Safety Executive issues further information on the building safety case

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as the new Building Safety Regulator, has published further information on the building safety case to support dutyholders with their new responsibilities. The accountable person – a person or organisation that is the dutyholder for the building when it is occupied – will be responsible for developing a building safety case that identifies building safety risks for higher-risk buildings and sets out how they’ll be mitigated. They will also be required to provide a building safety case report to the Regulator on request.

The HSE has produced further information on the following:

• Building information – including information dutyholders might need to know about their building.
• Identifying building safety risks – including what safety risks dutyholders might identify.
• Risk prevention and protection – including information on reasonable steps.
• Safety management systems – including the ‘plan, do, check, act’ approach.
• Safety case report – including its form and content, and mandatory occurrence reporting.

The accountable person will have to register their occupied buildings with the HSE, which will issue a Building Assessment Certificate for buildings it approves for occupation. The HSE expects the registration process to begin in April 2023, and for Building Assessment Certificates to begin being issued from April 2024.

The Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government has published a consultation on the detail of the occupation phase of higher-risk buildings. The NHF will be reviewing these and sharing further information with our members in due course.