Health and Safety | UK Regulatory Outlook September 2024

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill 2024

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill (also known as Martyn's Law) was introduced into Parliament on 12 September 2024. The bill was amended to reflect the feedback from the consultation on standard tiers and its pre-legislative scrutiny. Individuals or entities with control over qualifying premises or events are responsible for meeting the bill's requirements.

There are some significant amendments to the draft bill, most notably that "standard tier" qualifying premises will now be those where 200 people or more may be present, as opposed to a capacity of 100 people or more as in the previous version.

It also appears that the government has decided that the regulatory body responsible for oversight of these duties, and associated enforcement action, will be the Security Industry Authority.

The bill will apply to qualifying public premises and events.

Premises qualify if they are buildings or land used for specified activities (such as retail, education) and can host 200 or more individuals.

Premises are categorised into standard duty (200-799 individuals) and enhanced duty (800+ individuals).

Enhanced Duty Premises are qualifying premises where 800 or more individuals may be present.

Qualifying events are events held at premises that are not classified as enhanced duty premises but where 800 or more individuals may be present at some point. The explanatory notes outline that an event will be out of scope if it will be attended by 800 or more individuals over the course of the event but there will never be that number of individuals on the premises at any one time.

All venues with a capacity of more than 200 people will be classed as standard tier and would be legally required to have plan to deal with an attack at their premises (previously this applied to those with a capacity of 100 people or more). This will require them to implement public protection procedures such as evacuation and lockdown procedures.

Venues with a capacity of more than 800 people will fall into the enhanced tier and will need to comply with additional measures, such as having CCTV or security staff. They will also be required to document compliance and provide it to the Security Industry Authority.

The bill is scheduled to have its second reading on 14 October 2024.

Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry – final report

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report was published on 4 September 2024 and provides a detailed and technical evaluation of the incident. It heavily criticises many of those connected with the tower and its refurbishment, including the government, the local authority (including its building control function), the tenant management organisation, the fire service, those who manufactured and certified materials, construction parties and certain industry bodies. 

The report makes 58  recommendations, covering central and local government, the fire service and the construction industry. They include:

• Regulation: Creation of a single construction regulator responsible for the entire industry (including certifying construction products and licensing contractors to work on higher-risk buildings) reporting to a single secretary of state.
• Government: A new secretary of state for fire safety to be supported by a new chief construction adviser, bringing government responsibility for fire safety into a single department.
• Legislation and guidance: "Urgent review" of the definition of higher-risk buildings in the Building Safety Act, given that building use and the presence of vulnerable people in it is more relevant for the purposes of the definition than the height of a building. Urgent review of Approved Document B (statutory guidance on fire safety) and keeping all Approved Documents (the suite of guidance that that accompanies building regulations) under review and consideration of whether building control functions should be performed by those with a commercial interest in the process.

• Fire engineers: Formalising the profession and qualification of fire engineers and taking urgent steps to increase the number of places on masters level courses accredited by the professional regulator.

  The prime minister's response to the report confirms the following intentions on the part of the government:

• To write to all companies found by the Inquiry to have been part of the failings as a "first step" to stop them being awarded government contracts.
• To introduce a new Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan policy (a recommendation from the first report) for anyone whose ability to evacuate could be compromised and funding this for those renting in social housing.
• Willingness to force freeholders to assess their buildings and enter remediation schemes within set timetables, with a legal requirement to force action if deemed necessary and further steps on remediation to be set out in the autumn. This follows government comment, after a fire at a tower block in east London at the end of August, that the pace of removal of unsafe cladding has been too slow.
• To reform the construction products industry.
• To ensure social landlords are held to account for the decency and safety of their homes.
• To respond in full to the recommendations within six months.

Golden Thread guidance published 

Building safety legislation requires dutyholders and accountable persons to compile, maintain and share a golden thread of information for higher-risk buildings (HRBs) from design stage to (and throughout) occupation, to support building safety risk management.

The Construction Leadership Council has now published new guidance on the content of that information and requirements at different stages of a building's lifecycle. It will be particularly relevant for dutyholders and accountable persons, and will also be useful for those responsible for HRBs constructed before 1 October 2023 (when these rules came into force) or covered by the transitional building control arrangements. The guidance aims to provide greater clarity and support for responsible persons who have had to grapple with significant changes to their responsibilities in recent months, and ultimately improve the operation and management of HRBs.

HSE launch call for evidence on preventing and managing work-related stress

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is funding a new research project to collect information on work-related stress. It has launched a call for evidence inviting businesses to submit information on how they manage work-related stress in practice. The information they gather will be used to inform policy decisions and create practical guidance for employers.

The deadline for submissions is 30 September 2024. With the HSE using the information collected to feed into practical guidance and policy decisions, businesses should review the call for evidence and decide whether to submit their information.

Suicide awareness

On 10 September it was World Suicide Prevention day which aims to increase awareness of mental health and remind those suffering of the support that is on offer to them. For businesses, this provides a timely reminder of their duties under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to ensure the health and safety of employees so far as is reasonably practicable, and this extends to mental health. In order to meet this duty, businesses should carry out mental health risk assessments,  including the consideration of suicide risk and to consider factors and behaviours in a workplace which need to be examined and action plans to put in place.