Building Safety: HSE safety case principles

The Building Safety Bill, which was introduced to Parliament in July 2021, requires that, amongst other things, a person who manages or is responsible for high-rise residential buildings (buildings that are seven storeys or more, or 18 metres and above in height) takes all reasonable steps to ensure that the building is safe. As part of this requirement, where the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) directs, the responsible person will be obliged to prepare a safety case and produce a safety case report. 

In order to assist parties prepare for the proposed new regulations, the HSE has recently published details of the safety case principles and the HSE is encouraging those responsible for high-rise residential buildings to consider these principles when preparing for the new regime. 

These principles are intended to provide early support on taking sensible, risk-based steps to keep people safe in and around high-rise residential buildings and outlines how those responsible for the proposed safety cases are expected to meet the new requirements. In summary, to meet these new requirements those responsible will need to demonstrate:

• how high-rise residential buildings they are responsible for are to be kept safe;
• how measures to prevent and limit the consequences of a major accident in the building are sufficient and effective; and
• that there is a robust approach to the ongoing management of the building to make sure those measures remain effective.

For more detail on the HSE's safety case principles , please see here.

The safety case approach will help you to implement measures that are proportionate and effective and ensure that people in and around your high-rise residential building are safe.