Health and Safety measures in my block: reporting accidents and enforcement

18th August 2020 // by brendanmullan// 12 Comments

Darren Bagnall, of Flat Living Insurance, discusses how health and safety measures in a block of flats should be enforced.

Even with the most rigorous health and safety measures in place, accidents can still happen within your block. It’s important that, in the event of a serious incident, you know how to formally report it to the appropriate authorities.

How to report an accident taking place in your block of flats

RIDDOR Regulations (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences) legally require dangerous occurrences, diseases and serious work-related accidents to be reported to them.

This applies even in the case of a landlord or RMC director appointing a self-employed contractor. Whilst the contractor will maintain some responsibility for their own safety measures, i.e. by bringing their own ladders or ensuring they are using equipment correctly, it still remains the landlord’s responsibility to report any major incidents occurring during the time they are working within the block.

These regulations also apply to any incidents involving visitors to the property. Major or fatal injuries should be reported to a national incident centre, whilst other accidents should be reported on the HSE website at: hse.gov.uk/riddor

Enforcing health and safety measures

Whilst accidents are not especially common in blocks of flats with appropriate health and safety measures, there is always a serious risk. Likewise, in any place with such a large influx of people – visitors, employees and residents – the consequences can be severe.

It is the job of local authorities and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to ensure health and safety standards are maintained within blocks of flats. Upon inspecting a property and not being satisfied with the measures in place, the HSE can issue improvement notices which landlords must adhere to so that they mitigate the risks in their block.

These improvement notices can challenge a number of things within the property, for example, clearing gutters and roof reparations. They may even recommend installing handrails to prevent residents from falling. Likewise, they can issue prohibition notices to stop a particular activity deemed to risky.

It is a legal requirement to act on the notices issued by the HSE and failure to do so could result in prosecution. Residents’ Management Companies, even if they delegate the management of health and safety to other agents, can be prosecuted under criminal laws in case of any breach of regulations.