The Building Safety Act 2022: what are the changes to legislation?

Recently the Nortec Fire team attended the Building Safety Breakfast with industry professionals and discussed the secondary legislation added to the Building Safety Act 2022.

There is now a set deadline of October 2023 for owners of high-risk, high-rise properties to register their buildings and ensure a designated Accountable Person is appointed.

Every Accountable Person and Principle Accountable Person going forward is responsible for managing the fire and structural safety risks within high-rise residential buildings.
To protect these buildings, and the visitors and residents within them, Accountable Persons must know their responsibilities and legal duties to avoid breaching regulations and putting people at risk.

Today we are looking at the responsibilities of Accountable Persons and how to adequately adhere to the Building Safety Act 2022.

What are the legal duties of an Accountable Person?

The Accountable Person in every building has the legal obligation to repair any common parts of the building, residential units, and balconies and must take the proper steps to prevent building safety risks which include the spread of fire or structural failure. 

To ensure safety at all times in high-rise buildings, the Accountable Person must put the correct measures in place to prevent safety risks, report safety issues or incidents and update residents on the safety of the building.

Additionally, if there is ever a change to the Accountable Person within a building, the Building Safety Regulator must be notified to ensure the building is always properly maintained and managed.

How can Accountable Persons adhere to the Building Safety Act?

For Accountable Persons to remain aligned with the new Building Safety Act legislation, they must create a Building Safety Case and keep this updated at all times. 

There are four main stages to creating a suitable and compliant Building Safety Case: Review, Enable, Build, and Maintain. 

The entire process involves the Accountable Person building an action plan and putting measures and procedures into place to properly fulfil their legal duties.

All information should be digitised and collated into one place so if needed, accreditations, incident reports, building information, control measures, safety risks, and maintenance records can be easily accessed.

Conclusion

Accountable Persons hold a huge amount of responsibility and are required to protect both the building they manage and the residents and visitors within.

It’s important that the designated individual of any high-rise, high-risk property familiarises themselves with the new legislation and takes necessary action to ensure they are fulfilling their legal duties. 

For more information on how to register a high-rise residential building, click here.