Building Safety Management Policy

The aim of this policy, the associated risk specific policies and control documents is to ensure Riverside provide ‘safe houses’ to our customers and a ‘safe working environment’ for our colleagues, contractors and those affected by our activities, and ensures we meet our statutory and regulatory obligations. This policy details the overarching legal requirements, regulatory requirements, identifies and defines the key specified risks for Riverside, which will allow risks to be managed effectively and support the business plan objectives.

This document should be used by all customers, colleagues, and stakeholders of Riverside to understand the legal obligations placed upon the group to maintain a safe environment for customer’s homes and within all communal areas of properties and for colleagues. This document should also be used to maintain a safe environment for customers and colleagues within all non-domestic Riverside properties.

This document sets out key policy objectives, control measures, and accountabilities to protect customers, colleagues, and contractors from harm.

This document sets out key policy objectives, control measures, and accountabilities to protect residents, staff, and contractors from harm.

The legal framework is provided by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA), the main principle is that those who create risk from work activity are responsible for the protection of workers and the public from any consequences, as far as is reasonably practicable. A wide range of subordinate regulations have been made under powers introduced by the HSWA.

The Act places specific responsibilities on employers, self-employed people, and those in control of workplaces, employees, designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers and associated legislation places additional duties on owners, licensees, landlords, managers, and people in charge of premises and occupiers

Some regulations clarify aspects of the general duties and are mandatory; others introduce requirements for specific hazards and sectors. They do not add to the scope of general duties but may impose a higher standard of duty – ‘practicable’ or ‘absolute’ requirements.

This policy operates within the context of regulatory legal frameworks in relation to the following legislation:

• The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
• The Building Safety Act 2022
• The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
• Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations
• The building (Appointment of Persons, Industry Competence and Duty holders) (England) Regulations 2021
• The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• The Workplace (Health Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992
• Defective Premises Act 1972 and Environmental Protection Act 1990
• The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013
• The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002
• Landlord and Tenant Act 1985
• The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER)1998

The application of this Policy ensures that Riverside meets compliance with the outcomes of the Regulatory Framework for Social Housing in England introduced by the Homes and Communities Agency as outlined below:

(Registered Providers must) meet all applicable statutory requirements that provide for the health and safety of the occupants in their homes.

Riverside acknowledges and accepts its responsibilities under the applicable regulations and legislation and that failure to properly discharge these responsibilities may result in prosecution/s, fines, or statutory notices.

This policy applies to all buildings owned or managed by Riverside and places of work for Riverside colleagues. This includes general needs houses, flats, any rented accommodation, communal areas, and garages. Nondomestic buildings including offices, shops, schemes, commercial units, community centres. The obligation extends to buildings we manage including leasehold, shared ownership and all tenures including social, affordable, market rent and privately rented accommodation. 

UK regulations have an explicit duty on owners of buildings under various legislation; the key requirements are as follows.

The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) 1974 places a duty on every employer, as far as is reasonably practicable, to:

• protect the health, safety, and welfare of employees at work (this includes providing safe systems of work, providing instruction supervision, and training and providing and maintaining a safe workplace and safe working environment with safe means of access and egress); and
• Protect people other than people at work against exposure to risks to health and safety arising from or in connection with the activities of people at work.

Building Safety Act 2022 imposes duty to manage high risk buildings (currently defined as those above 18m or 7 storeys and above) during design, construction, and occupation of buildings, we have a duty to.

• Appointed a statutory person (nominated Accountable person)
• Categorise Buildings and identify HRB
• Confirm Principal Accountable Person
• Register a higher risk building & apply for a Building Assessment Certificate (BAC)
• Prepare information to accompany a BAC application
• Prepare Safety case report and notify the regulator safety case prepared or revised
• Display Building Assessment Certificate
• Complete an assessment of the building safety risks (the spread of fire; and / or structural failure)
• take all reasonable steps to prevent a building safety risk happening; and reduce the seriousness of an incident resulting from such a risk if one happens.
• introduce measures to manage building safety risks
• Ensure anyone assisting in managing fire safety is competent
• Produce a residents engagement strategy, operate a complaints procedure for residents, and provide residents in higher-risk buildings with information about relevant fire safety matters and keep a register of all such matters
• Establish and operate a mandatory occurrence reporting system
• to undertake and pay for remediation works for defects in “relevant buildings” and introduced restrictions on service charges for remedying defects under “qualifying leases” and recover costs for a specified list of “building safety measures.”

Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations

• (at least 18 metres in height or with at least 7 storeys and containing two or more dwellings.)
• clarify that height measurement will be from ground level to the top floor surface of the top storey of the building, excluding any storey which is a roof-top machinery or plant area

The building (Appointment of Persons, Industry Competence and Duty holders) (England) Regulations impose legal requirements on Riverside to ensure

• Any works covered by the Building Regulations are properly monitored and that any appointees are compliant.
• Appointees are also required to ensure that their work complies with the Building Regulations and achieve correct statutory authorisation for works
• on any person carrying out any building or design work that they have the skills, knowledge, experience, and behaviours necessary, and the organisational capability where the appointee is a company, to carry out their work

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSWR) require Riverside to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of:

• the risks to which employees are exposed while at work; and
• The risks to people not in their employment arising from the conduct of their undertakings, i.e., to any third parties, such as tenants, to identify measures they need to have in place to comply with their duties under health and safety law.

The Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992 cover a wide range of basic health, safety and welfare issues and apply to most workplaces. They place a duty on every employer to ensure.

• That workplaces meet the health, safety, and welfare needs of the workforce, which may include people with disabilities
• The workplace and the equipment, devices and systems be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair
• The equipment, devices and systems have a suitable system of maintenance.

The common parts of a building, even if there are no employees based on site, are considered a place of work as it is used by tenants, visitors and contractors employed by the group, therefore not only do the general requirements of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 apply, but also the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. 

Defective Premises Act 1972 and Environmental Protection Act 1990 require building owners to

• Take reasonable care to see that tenants and other people are safe from personal injury or disease caused by a defect in the state of the premises. Where the condition of any materials is in a state as to be prejudicial to health, this constitutes a statutory nuisance under section 79 Environmental Protection Act.

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR), place a legal duty on:

• self-employed people; and
• people in control of premises.

To report work-related deaths, specified injuries, over seven-day injuries, work related diseases, and dangerous occurrences (near miss accidents) to the relevant enforcing authority.

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) 2002,

Substances hazardous to health as defined by the COSHH Regulations 2002 cover virtually all materials capable of causing ill health in a work environment. The COSHH regulations require employers to

• prevent,
• reduce or
• Adequately control exposure to hazardous substances by applying principles of good control practice.

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulation (PUWER) 1998 places a duty on every employer to ensure equipment provided for work.

• is suitable for the intended use
• is safe for use, maintained in a safe condition, inspected to ensure it is correctly installed and does not subsequently deteriorate
• is used only be people who have received adequate information, instruction, and training
• has up to date machinery maintenance logs, where maintenance records are kept

Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 require the Group to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house for the;

• supply of water,
• gas and
• electricity, and for

Sanitation, space heating, and heating water.

Riverside will:

1. Develop Building Safety Framework which defines our strategic priorities and Building Safety management model to reduce our risks to a tolerable level
2. Complete and maintain a strategic risk assessment and define our control measures and assurance
3. Building Safety Management Model
4. Maintain Risk policies, operational management plans and procedure documents which align to our strategic risk assessment areas.
5. Introduce effective risk reduction strategies for each strategic risk
6. Develop effective ICT systems and technology to provide accurate recording and reporting of statutory & regulatory compliance activities.

Building Safety framework

Strategic compliance risk assessment

• We have an extensive range of safety risks to manage associated with all buildings owned or managed and landlord responsibilities to ensure we provide ‘safe houses’ to our customers, and safe communal areas, shared spaces, and workplaces.

The legal framework is provided by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA) and a range of secondary legislation including Building safety Act and approved code of practice and industry guidance. TRG take a risk-based approach based on risk classification of buildings to manage any potential risk of harm to customers, visitors or colleagues arising from any deficiency that can give rise to a hazard due to the design, use, repair or lack of adequate maintenance or improvement actions arising from health and safety assessments. Key risks include heating, ventilation & water, fire & electrical safety, presence of mechanical equipment and asbestos containing products and the management of our shared spaces with a key focus on our High-Risk residential Buildings (>18m+)

Building Safety Management model

• Riverside have introduced a Building Safety Management model under this policy which aims to prevent incidents through a Risk Management process. This is achieved by the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks. Followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events. Riverside follow the below Compliance management model which centres on five core areas:
  
  • Risk Identification
    
  • Risk Analysis
    
  • Risk Evaluation
    
  • Risk Management
    
  • Risk Reporting & Communication

• This Policy will be supported by specific health & safety related policies and procedures for each key risk area.
• We have analysed and evaluated all key risks through a risk assessment. Details of the main risks are contained within the specific risk policies
• The hierarchy responsibility for each key risk is defined in the risk policies, for each risk area we define the following roles and determine accountability.
  • Duty Holder – This is the person with overall responsibility within the organisation.
  • Responsible Person – This is the person in control of operational delivery.
  • Competent Persons – Individuals and companies appointed to implement control measures.
  • Appointed Persons – Individuals and companies appointed to undertake Compliance task or activity.

The Building Safety Management Plan provides further information regarding Riverside’s approach to managing electrical safety and provides further detailed requirements on key roles and responsibilities.

Risk Specific Policies

The following named posts within the Riverside Group structure have been nominated for specific tasks allocated under the management plan and who is responsible for completion (or group subsidiary equivalent).

Whilst the strategic approach to Building Safety is not risk averse in terms of adopting innovation and striving to be a leader in the sector, the safety of Riverside customers and colleagues is a key priority for the organisation. Therefore, there is no appetite for risk in terms building safety and compliance with the law.

There is however a tolerance for risk in adopting a proportionate approach to building safety activities, risk assessment and the controls implemented.

Key risks are monitored through a set of monthly Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). The suite of KPI’s is embedded with the executive management and governance reporting structure.

A building safety risk register is maintained and regularly reviewed to ensure a proactive approach to risk identification, reduction, and control.

Our risk-based approach is based on risk classification of buildings as per below:

Riverside is committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion. We strive to be fair in our dealings with all people, communities, and organisations, considering the diverse nature of their culture and background and actively promoting inclusion. This policy aligns with Riverside’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy and has been subject to an Equality Impact Assessment.