Comment: Debbie Larner

Debbie Larner, Lead Associate, HQN Health and Safety Network

We’ve seen a lot of change already this year in the arena of health and safety and, once again, it’s a core area of the Regulator for Social Housing’s sector risk profile.

As we know, meeting statutory health and safety obligations is an essential part of keeping tenants’ homes safe.

It’s essential that compliance teams and boards adequately understand all the changes and new legislative requirements – and there’s a lot to keep up with:

• The Building Safety Bill received Royal Assent in April – this will bring about seismic changes in how we manage and mitigate fire and structural safety issues in high-rise buildings

• The Fire Safety Act was finally enacted – alongside a new risk prioritisation tool – which strengthens our responsibilities around fire safety across all residential buildings

• The Social Housing (Regulation) Bill will:

– Give the regulator the power to request that social landlords collect and publish information relating to their compliance performance

– Require all providers to appoint a health and safety lead

– Create a new consumer standard specifically related to safety

– Require landlords to report against a new set of tenant satisfaction measures that assess tenant satisfaction with the health and safety of their homes

• A consultation on electrical safety standards in the social housing sector, which will conclude at the end of August, will likely result in mandatory checks

• Social landlords will be required to provide a smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarms from 1 October 2022.

All of this against a backdrop of media and government focus on the condition of social housing stock; the oftenshocking reports from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry; and reports of poor practice and maladministration from the Housing Ombudsman.

To make sure that residents are safe, and feel safe, in their homes, it’s really important to stay on the front foot. Largely, this involves data integrity, being proactive and demonstrating robust and effective processes:

• Collect and present the right, up-to-date and accurate information to enable your board or committee to have robust assurance about your compliance with statutory health and safety obligations

• Review the data you have on your stock and tenants to make sure it’s good quality, robust and accurate

• Make sure that you have robust risk assessment processes in place that: identify any hazards; set out who could be harmed; evaluate the risks; identify control and mitigation measures; record findings and actions

• Continually evaluate and monitor your risk assessments

• Ensure that you have up-to-date policies in place that reflect the latest health and safety legislation, regulations and guidance

• Adopt a proactive, rather than a reactive approach to managing risks and respond promptly to identified issues.

Our SafetyNet annual conference, on 22 September, will look at all these important areas and we will also focus in on:

• How to develop your safety case as required under the Building Safety Act 2022

• Managing and prioritising fire safety risk, and Fire Risk Assessments

• The ‘big 6’ – gas, fire, legionella, lifts, asbestos and electrical safety

• New requirements on electrical safety in housing

• Managing the day-to-day health and safety legal risks

• The latest health and safety legal case studies

• Effective governance on compliance.

Hope to virtually see you there!