Handover documents and what to expect after the Building Safety Bill

Recent events have heightened health & safety in our everyday activities and the need to protect ourselves and those around us. Construction has been heavily affected but has been swift to adapt to ensure all those working or affected by our activities are protected.

Baily Garner (Health & Safety) Ltd continues to advise and update our clients and partners on the latest news to ensure we are all up to date on current and future legislation affecting the construction industry.

The forthcoming Building Safety Bill will further increase awareness to ensure we manage and control fire and structural risks within our buildings. As Principal Designer the CDM regulations also require the PD to prepare a Health & Safety File which is intended to highlight “significant” health & safety risks for the future use of the building.

It is important that this is not confused with either a maintenance and operational manual (O&M) or the Building Safety Case but is part of the total Building Safety Information. Whilst the building safety case will make reference to building safety, its primary function is to gather evidence to identify how fire and structural risks are being managed as part of the golden thread.

The safety case and report should contain details from all those involved with the design of the structure, and the controls to manage the fire risks to be managed by the Building Safety Manager.

The responsibility for its implementation will be the Building Safety Control: the accountable person (building owner) and maintained by the Building Safety Manager.

As a result we see Regulation 38 (Fire Safety Information) within part B forming the template, with input from duty holders such as the Lead Designer and Fire Engineers to ensure key information as outlined in reg 38 is incorporated, including a façade component register and cause and effect plus a  fire strategy which should form the basis of the Building Safety Case (File).

Baily Garner (Health & Safety) Ltd has adopted this approach on all our new build schemes involving 4 storeys and above. We believe future legislations will require these documents to be required for all buildings above 11m in the future and we should be starting to utilise a best practice approach now!

Health & Safety should not just be about conforming to current legislation but being innovative and looking to continually improve and deliver an effective and proactive approach for all those who build and use our buildings.

For further information regarding the Fire Safety Bill visit

https://www.hse.gov.uk/building-safety/index.htm

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