Developing a robust Safety Case and its accompanying Safety Case Report is crucial for ensuring the safety of occupants in higher-risk buildings (HRBs).

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) and the Government (GOV.UK) have been very clear; they will not overly prescribe what information Accountable and Principal Accountable Persons should produce as they are encouraging building owners to instead ‘be curious’ about their buildings.

They have also warned against spending unnecessary time, effort, and resources producing reams of information that bear little relevance to your risk assessments.

Your primary focus should be on producing the risk assessment and then on producing information about the identified risks and how you plan to mitigate them.

In this article, we will therefore help you by describing the Operance Safety Case Workflow: a simple, step-by-step guide that starts with a Safety Case Action Plan, and the development of a comprehensive Safety Case and a summarised Safety Case Report.

But first up, let’s remind ourselves of what the Safety Case and Safety Case Report is, the key differences between the two and just what exactly is a Safety Case Action Plan is.

Definition: A comprehensive document that assesses and mitigates risks associated with a higher-risk building, outlining safety measures and protocols.

Purpose: To ensure the safety and well-being of occupants by identifying and managing potential hazards and risks in the building.

Contents: Detailed information about the building’s construction, refurbishment, fire safety design, structural safety, MEP safety, resident profile, maintenance information, and more to provide evidence for the key piece of content: your risk assessment.

Definition: A Safety Case Action Plan is a proactive and structured document that outlines the tasks, responsibilities, and timelines associated with developing the Safety Case and ensuring building safety compliance. It serves as a guide to help users assess what needs to be done and in what sequence to create a comprehensive Safety Case.

Purpose: The purpose of a Safety Case Action Plan is to provide a systematic approach to identify, prioritise, and address safety-related aspects of a building. It helps users understand the roles, responsibilities, and tasks involved in developing the Safety Case, ensuring that nothing is overlooked and all necessary information is captured in order to maximise efficiency.

Contents: The contents of a Safety Case Action Plan typically include an initial building assessment to identify the depth, format and competent persons to develop the risk assessment, engagement of key stakeholders, identification of specific tasks and activities, establishment of timelines and milestones, allocation of necessary resources, effective communication and reporting mechanisms, regular review and quality assurance processes, and a focus on continuous improvement.

In this step, a safety case action plan is created to outline the tasks, responsibilities, and timelines for developing the safety case. It helps in organising and prioritising actions needed to address safety risks and requirements.

The Buiding Safety Regulator (BSR), want you to ‘be curious’ about your buildings, as such, they are not been overly prescriptive about the information you need to provide about your buildings, as every building is individual and will have individual risks associated with them. Therefore, the last thing your organisation should be doing, is running around finding information about your buildings, as you currently have very little idea about what information you need.

Remember, the primary piece of information and, therefore, your focus is the risk assessment.

The information you collect about your buildings should be focussed on backing up your risk assessment. For instance, if you have a 40-year-old HRB in occupation, you do not have to go and instruct building surveyors and structural engineers to carry out trial holes and investigations to determine your foundations if there is no risk associated with the structural stability of the property, such as evidence of movement, subsidence, cracks etc. Instead, you should assess the risks associated with your foundations, determine that there is no risk, explain and provide evidence, then move on to the next risk.

We have already heard stories of organisations pulling together paper, pdf and digital information about their HRBs, only to then think about what parts of it they actually need for their Safety Case. This can be a very costly and time-consuming exercise.

We have also heard stories of organisations instructing ‘Digital Twin’ vendors produce laser-scans of their HRBs in which to develop 3D BIM models, as they have been sold the idea that these are imperative to producing the digital golden thread of information. This is incorrect; Dame Judith Hackett recommended the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM), as a process for creating structured building data. She did not suggest populating, storing and sharing information via complicated 3D models. The two things are very different, please do not spend your valuable resources on this unless you have an agreed organisational objective for doing so.

We have also seen ‘Asset Management’ software vendors selling the idea that the golden thread is all about having extensive information about individual assets, with little focus on the primary need, risk prevention. Whilst information about assets is of course useful, it is only important if the assets are associated with risks relating to fire, structural and MEP safety.

Lastly, we have seen organisations sign up to expensive, long-term enterprise licenses with ‘Common Data Environment (CDE)’ vendors that promise to store your golden thread in their filing system. But this has little benefit to the golden thread unless you are able to edit, update and continue supplementing the information against the actual entity it is relevant too. So adding reams of PDFs to an extensive filing system is not really going to help.

This is why Operance developed its unique Safety Case Action Plan:

The Safety Case Action Plan offers a comprehensive planning approach that enables users to prioritise tasks, streamline the development of a compliant Safety Case and Safety Case Report, and achieve significant time and cost savings, ultimately enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the process.

Here’s an insight into our Safety Case Action Plan prompts users to think, before they act:

Initial Assessment:

1. Identify the building’s characteristics, risks, and hazards.
2. Conduct site inspections and gather relevant data.

Stakeholder Engagement:

1. Involve key stakeholders to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the building and its safety requirements.
2. Define roles, responsibilities, and tasks for each stakeholder.

Task Identification:

1. Break down the safety case development process into specific tasks.
2. Determine the sequencing and dependencies of tasks.

Timeline and Milestones:

1. Establish a timeline for completing each task and milestone.
2. Set realistic deadlines based on available resources and regulatory requirements.

Information Gathering:

1. Collect relevant information, such as building plans, maintenance records, and inspection reports.
2. Analyse data to identify risks and prioritise actions.

Task Assignment and Monitoring:

1. Assign tasks to appropriate stakeholders.
2. Monitor progress and provide the necessary support throughout the process.

Review and Approval:

1. Conduct internal reviews to ensure compliance and quality.
2. Obtain necessary approvals from regulatory authorities.

Continuous Improvement:

Establish mechanisms to monitor and update the Safety Case Action Plan regularly.

Learn from experiences and adapt the plan as needed.

The Safety Case Action Plan serves as a roadmap for stakeholders, ensuring a systematic and structured approach to developing the safety case. It facilitates effective planning, resource allocation, and collaboration among the involved parties, streamlining the overall process and maximising efficiency.