The Role of a Building Safety Manager?

Originally the Building Safety Act (BSA) proposed the role of a Building Safety Manager as the person who was supposed to provide support for an accountable person for the safety of a high-risk building, keep The Golden Thread of information and establish a connection with residents in terms of safety-related issues. As a result, the building owners were supposed to hire a Building Safety Manager to oversee the safety, which entailed extra costs.

The BSM would also have to keep track of all the work that has been performed and ensure that all safety equipment was in place and fire management systems were implemented etc. There also were no regulations on how many buildings a Building Manager could oversee, as long as safety remained the top priority.

After initially passing through the legislative process, the requirement to appoint a Building Safety Manager and other individuals, was removed from the BSA to eliminate unnecessary costs for the landlords due to their complaints. The UK Government is going to provide a more flexible approach to let the Accountable person/s address the issue of building safety and follow their obligations.

The new Duty Holders

The new amendments to the Building Safety Act are literally redefining the roles of persons responsible for building safety. The new Duty Holder, i.e., Accountable person/s, can be a person, an organization, or a business that actually owns high-rise buildings or has the responsibility to maintain its common parts like outside walls, shared hallways, stairs, roof, etc.

Preventing building safety risks (the spread of fire or structural failures) from happening and mitigating its consequences in case something should happen are among the main duties of an Accountable Person. If there is only one person accountable, he or she will be considered a Principal Accountable Person or PAP.

Apart from performing AP's duties, the Principal Accountable Person is supposed to make sure that the existing building is registered with the BSR (Building Safety Regulator) in a timely manner. All newly built buildings should be registered prior to occupation, otherwise is a criminal offence. In addition to this, preparing a safety case report that clearly indicated that APs have assessed the safety risks and taken all possible measures to control them is a must for PAPs.

According to the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015 the principal designers and contractors, designers and clients are the existing Duty Holders as well. Communication and sharing information, managing work, and appointing people with the proper level of expertise is one of their primary duties. In addition to this, they will obtain new duties like planning, managing, and monitoring.

All in all, some of the roles have been in use for ages, whilst some of them will be introduced shortly. The owner or a manager of a high-rise building is to prepare for the new safety framework.