By Vicki Cutler, HQN Associate.

Thinking about the move in to 2021, we all know that fire safety will still dominate the landscape and with the introduction of the new Fire Safety Bill as well as the moving forward with the Building Safety Bill there is absolutely the need for the sector to change and improve.

Ensuring tenants are safe in their homes is a fundamental responsibility of social landlords; in todays world there should be no excuse for not being able to demonstrate that appropriate action is being taken for all of the six key areas of statutory property compliance (fire, legionella, electric, gas, asbestos, lifts) – a ‘shift’ from the term (and teams) known as compliance, when talking about the ‘big six’ landlord safety areas, to ‘building safety’ provides a clear indication that many organisations have already recognised that all safety elements
are key.

Providers really should already be focusing on getting the right people in place to meet the specific requirements and not waiting for the new Bills and Regulations to come into force.

For me personally, and something that I’m passionate about, is competence – a word that should resonate across the sector not only in respect to fire safety and risk assessment but in other key safety areas too.

Whilst everyone is tightening their belt, which is understandable, it should be higher standards as opposed to low cost that are the key drivers to appointing external contractors to deliver services that are required to ensure tenant and resident safety.

Sadly, far too many times have I seen poor standards that have the reverse effect and the provider is left picking up the, often broken, pieces at significant cost.

Tenant/resident involvement and engagement has to (and will) move higher up the safety agenda, involving the right people in the safety message can and will bring huge benefits to providers who actively work alongside their customers to improve the safety in their homes,
communal areas as well as in the wider communities.