Health, Safety and Building Compliance
The core duties
Health and safety in blocks is a web of overlapping regimes. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require suitable and sufficient risk assessments and arrangements for planning, control and monitoring. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 imposes duties on the responsible person - usually the person with control of the premises, often the freeholder or RMC - to assess fire risk, maintain precautions and record findings; the Fire Safety Act 2021 confirmed that external walls, balconies and flat entrance doors fall within that regime, and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add resident information duties at 11 metres and above and further duties at 18 metres.
The Building Safety Act 2022 covers higher-risk buildings (at least 18 metres or seven storeys, with two or more residential units): registration, an accountable person, a safety case and a golden thread of information. Alongside these sit the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (duty to manage asbestos in common and non-domestic areas), the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, LOLER 1998 (thorough examination of passenger lifts every six months), electrical safety (five-yearly EICR), legionella control under L8/HSG274, and RIDDOR reporting.
Traps: mixing up the 11m and 18m thresholds; assuming the managing agent is automatically the responsible person; forgetting that the asbestos duty attaches to common parts; treating an EWS1 form as a statutory requirement when it is a lender-driven document.
Rule of thumb: six-monthly lift examinations, annual gas safety checks on landlord-owned appliances, five-yearly EICR, an asbestos register before any intrusive work, and Building Safety Regulator registration before occupation of a higher-risk building.