The Building Safety Regulator has today (Wednesday 12 April) opened the registration process for high-rise residential buildings in England.

It is a legal requirement under the Building Safety Act 2022 for all high-rise residential buildings 18 metres tall or higher, or at least 7 storeys tall, with two or more residential units to be registered with the Building Safety Regulator by 1 October 2023.

The Principal Accountable Person (PAP) for each building, or someone authorised by them, is required to complete the registration process.

The registration service is now open and the fee to register each building is £251.

Register a high-rise residential building

Guidance on how to apply to register can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/applying-to-register-a-high-rise-residential-building

More information on the roles of Accountable persons and Principal Accountable Persons can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/safety-in-high-rise-residential-buildings-accountable-persons

Notes to Editors

About BSR: The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is an independent body established by the Building Safety Act, 2022, and is part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). BSR will raise building safety and performance standards and oversee a new stringent regime for high-rise residential buildings, as well as overseeing the wider system for regulating safety and performance of all buildings and increasing the competence of relevant regulators and industry professionals.

About HSE: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise.

About the Building Safety Act, 2022: The Building Safety Act gained Royal Assent on the 28 April 2022 and makes ground-breaking reforms to give residents and homeowners more rights, powers and protections. The Act overhauls existing regulations, creating lasting change and makes clear how residential buildings should be constructed, maintained, and made safe. Full implementation of the Act is in October 2023, which means each building owner should have their building safety regime in place by this time.

HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

The Building Safety Regulator has today (Wednesday 12 April) opened the registration process for high-rise residential buildings in England.

It is a legal requirement under the Building Safety Act 2022 for all high-rise residential buildings 18 metres tall or higher, or at least 7 storeys tall, with two or more residential units to be registered with the Building Safety Regulator by 1 October 2023.

The Principal Accountable Person (PAP) for each building, or someone authorised by them, is required to complete the registration process.

The registration service is now open and the fee to register each building is £251.

Register a high-rise residential building

Guidance on how to apply to register can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/applying-to-register-a-high-rise-residential-building

More information on the roles of Accountable persons and Principal Accountable Persons can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/safety-in-high-rise-residential-buildings-accountable-persons

Notes to Editors

About BSR: The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is an independent body established by the Building Safety Act, 2022, and is part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). BSR will raise building safety and performance standards and oversee a new stringent regime for high-rise residential buildings, as well as overseeing the wider system for regulating safety and performance of all buildings and increasing the competence of relevant regulators and industry professionals.

About HSE: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise.

About the Building Safety Act, 2022: The Building Safety Act gained Royal Assent on the 28 April 2022 and makes ground-breaking reforms to give residents and homeowners more rights, powers and protections. The Act overhauls existing regulations, creating lasting change and makes clear how residential buildings should be constructed, maintained, and made safe. Full implementation of the Act is in October 2023, which means each building owner should have their building safety regime in place by this time.

HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

Tradespeople across Great Britain are being warned about the hidden dangers associated with asbestos.

The warning comes as part of the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Asbestos and You campaign targeting tradespeople about the personal risks from asbestos that still exist in  properties across the country today.

Around five thousand people a year die from asbestos related illnesses and asbestos can still be found in buildings built or refurbished before the year 2000.

But HSE is warning despite the ban on its use, many buildings still contain asbestos, and it is still a serious risk to anyone exposed to it at any age.

Tim Beaumont, HSE’s acting head of construction policy sector, said: “Asbestos can be found in things like Artex, cement boards under eaves, garage roofs, old bath panels, boiler houses and fires and even mortar between bricks can contain asbestos.

“There is no known safe level of asbestos exposure but that’s not to say it can’t be managed safely.

“All tradespeople should make sure they know the basics about identifying asbestos. Before carrying out any construction work, there’s a legal requirement to identify whether asbestos is present and could be disturbed.

“Younger tradespeople need to know the dangers behind asbestos as it could affect them in later life like it is affecting older tradespeople now.”

Asbestos is only dangerous if not maintained in a safe condition or if physically disturbed without the right measures in place to control exposure to fibres.

Craig Evans, UKATA (United Kingdom Asbestos Training Association) Chief Operating Officer, said: “I wholeheartedly support HSE’s campaign to raise asbestos awareness and the importance of training across industry.

“The dangers of asbestos are very real, with over 5,000 people in the UK dying each year from asbestos-related diseases.

“It is crucial that tradespeople are aware of the risks involved in disturbing or damaging asbestos-containing materials, as inhaling these fibres can lead to devastating diseases such as mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis.

“UKATA members are committed to providing high-quality asbestos training, delivered by highly experienced and competent professionals with extensive knowledge and expertise in their field, to help prevent unnecessary exposure and protect the health and wellbeing of all those working in the industry.”

From the 1950s until 1999, asbestos containing materials were used extensively in the construction and maintenance of buildings in Great Britain.

When materials that contain asbestos are disturbed or damaged, fibres are released into the air. If these fibres are inhaled, they can cause serious diseases such as mesothelioma, asbestos related lung cancer, asbestosis, and pleural thickening. These diseases will not affect you immediately as they often take a long time to develop, but once diagnosed, it is often too late to do anything.

It can take 20 to 30 years before symptoms appear. Symptoms include shortness of breath, persistent cough, wheezing, extreme tiredness, pain in your chest or shoulder and in more advanced cases, swollen fingertips.

If asbestos cannot be safely managed, it should be removed by a licensed asbestos contractor. Where present, asbestos should be closely managed by those responsible for the building.

Find out more about the Asbestos and You campaign, and visit HSE’s website for further guidance on asbestos.

Notes to editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.
4. UKATA (the United Kingdom Asbestos Training Association) is a leading association dedicated to improving the quality and standards of asbestos training, with the ultimate goal of protecting workers and the public from the risks associated with asbestos exposure. To find a UKATA approved asbestos training provider near you, visit www.ukata.org.uk or for free advice, call the team on 01246 824437.

A concrete manufacturer has been fined £1m after a 24-year-old man died at a site in Nottingham.

Stewart Ramsay, from Mansfield, was working for Creagh Concrete Products Ltd (CCP) at its Thurgarton Lane site in Hoveringham when he suffered fatal head injuries on 15 March 2017.

Mr Ramsay, known as ‘Stew’, was trying to fix a problem that happened as he and colleagues were using a metal grab to unload Spantherm, a concrete building product, from some trailers. The metal grab shouldn’t have been in use.

Mr Ramsay’s head became trapped in the jaws of the grab after a rope connected to the locking lever snapped.

Even though the rope was tied in a double-knot, the locking mechanism released the jaws of the grab as Mr Ramsay pulled on it, causing fatal injuries.

Stew’s mother Carol Hansford described him as a ‘one in a million son’.

“I know a lot of people say that, but he really was out of this world,” she said.

“He was an amazing brother, grandson, uncle and nephew.

“The hundreds of friends that came to the crematorium showed how well liked and appreciated he was – it was unbelievable.

“He was just loving, caring, thoughtful and very funny.”

CCP were sentenced at Nottinghamshire Crown Court on 5 April, after they admitted failing to ensure its employees carried out lifting operations safely and without training and information being in place.

“He was such a hardworking person,” Carol added.

“Not only did he work at Creagh, he also working as a doorman on weekends.

“I’ll never forgot that day as long as I live.

“I got a knock at the door as his friends had come to tell me – I collapsed.

“It still doesn’t seem real – it’s like you’re watching a film and not at the end.

“All he did was go to work.

“Things like this shouldn’t happen – it destroys families forever,

“Nobody should have to go through what we have done these past six years.”

An investigation by the Health and Safety executive (HSE) showed that CCP did not have a safe system of work for the use of the grab and had not carried out a risk assessment to identify risks for its use. Both the grab and a fork lift truck being used at the time were in poor condition. Neither should have been in service at the time of the incident. CCP had failed to ensure that these pieces of work equipment had been maintained in an efficient state, efficient working order or in good repair.

Creagh Concrete Products Limited of Hoveringham Nottinghamshire pleaded guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in that it failed to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all its employees. The company was fined £1,000,000 and ordered to pay costs of £47,521.08.

Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Mr Amandip Dhanda said: ”This tragic incident led to the avoidable death of a young man.

“Stewart’s death could easily have been prevented if his employer had acted to identify and manage the risks involved, and to put a safe system of work in place.

“The work equipment being used at the time of the incident should not have been in use, and the employer would have known this had they effectively followed their own health and safety systems.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.

A man has been jailed after a worker fell from the roof of a commercial property in North London and died a week later.

Patrick McCarthy (trading as All Care Home Improvements) was given a 14-month custodial sentence after the death of Mr Andrei-Ionel Hutanu in 2019. No scaffolding or other measures had been put in place to prevent falls from the roof.

Harrow Crown Court heard how 33-year-old Mr Hutanu and another man were working at the rear of  commercial premises in Neasden on 19 August 2019. While his co-worker had been instructed to remove building materials from a flat roof, Mr Hutanu had been instructed to carry out repair work on a tiled pitched roof. He was working on it from a roofing ladder when he fell approximately 16-feet onto a concrete alleyway below.

He fractured his neck and sustained other serious head injuries in the fall and despite being taken by air ambulance to St Marys Hospital in Paddington, he sadly died a week later, on 26 August 2019.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident found 37-year-old McCarthy had failed to take any steps to prevent falls from height by failing to install scaffolding around the perimeter of the building or flat roof where both men were working.

Mr Patrick McCarthy (trading as All Care Home Improvements) of Pasture Road, London pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.  He received a 14 -month custodial sentence at a hearing on 4 April 2023.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Philip Jordan said: “This tragic incident could have been easily avoided. Assessing and planning work at height is essential to ensuring that suitable and sufficient measures are in place to prevent falls from height.

“The custodial sentence imposed on Mr McCarthy should underline to everyone in the construction industry that the courts, and HSE, take a failure to follow the regulations extremely seriously. HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against individuals or companies that fall below the required standards.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.
4. HSE guidance on carrying out roof work safely and working at height is available.