Broad shoulders: the health and safety workload

Health and safety workloads have never been more demanding – and don’t facilities managers just know it.

According to a poll by SFG20, 70% of facilities managers and building maintenance professionals state that staying compliant and managing risk are their most significant problems. 52% said safety standards are their biggest priority in 2024, while 100% of poll respondents said they were unsure how prepared they are to comply with the Building Safety Act 2022 and Golden Thread requirements.

Facility managers are required to keep on top of their legal responsibilities while also pinpointing potential hazards – including electrical, structural and fire safety – to prevent dangerous incidents and to protect people and assets. Paul Bullard, Product Director at SFG20, says: “Building maintenance is no longer a backseat issue for organisations, but the cornerstone of health and safety and efficient running costs. A ‘fix on fail’ approach might work for non-statutory maintenance, but the approach can mean statutory tasks are not completed, creating significant risk to both building owners and occupants.”

Not only does non-compliance increase the risk of legal consequences and sanctions, but it will likely lead to avoidable added costs, such as increased insurance premiums and a damaged reputation.

When compiling its first annual property compliance report, health, safety and property compliance firm William Martin examined data from 20,000 risk assessments and survey reports between April 2023 and March 2024. Figures showed almost 327,000 health and safety actions were raised across all disciplines – a 22% increase on the previous year.

Phil Jones, William Martin’s Managing Director, says: “We’re undoubtedly seeing a far greater focus from organisations on ensuring best practice and continuous improvement rather than just compliance.

“Increased workload burden [is] undoubtedly contributing to some of the more worrying trends identified in our report, such as the unacceptable length of time it is taking to address Priority 1 actions and poor record-keeping around lift safety.”

The trends identified by the data include:

• fire safety actions rose by 53% when compared to the previous year, with new fire safety legislation a key driver for this increase

• 32% of fire actions related to fire and smoke spread, with 60% of these relating to inadequate fire doors

• half of all asbestos-related actions required its removal – with a 29% year-on-year increase in the overall number of actions. This indicates the poor condition of asbestos in many UK buildings

• almost a quarter (22%) of all Priority 1 health and safety actions last year related to passenger lift safety, with many of these due to poor documentation and record-keeping

• it is frequently taking too long to remediate top priority actions from risk assessments, with the average time to complete a Priority 1 action being 42 days; and

• around 17,000 actions were raised relating to legionella, demonstrating that the threat of a major outbreak has not gone away.

Jones concludes: “The insights contained in this report will hopefully inform property and facilities management professionals on what should be the key focus areas. Tech and AI can form part of the solution by reducing the scope for human error. Using tech to work smarter rather than harder also frees up time to focus on the activities that will drive change and reduce risk.” 

Read the William Martin report: b.link/WM_report

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