Mandatory Occurrence Reporting - in occupation

Overview

As part of the new regulatory regime, we are introducing a mandatory occurrence reporting requirement which will require specific people responsible for the safety of higher-risk buildings to capture and report certain fire and structural safety issues called ‘safety occurrences’ to the Building Safety Regulator.

Mandatory occurrence reporting will ensure that the Building Safety Regulator is able to capture any risks that could have a potential impact on fire and structural safety and assess the relevance of these risks to other buildings. It will also help drive intelligence-led enforcement, promote safety-conscious culture change, and improve safety standards and best practice across the built environment.

Under the proposed regime, mandatory occurrence reporting will be compulsory during the design, construction and occupation of higher-risk buildings.  During design and construction, the Principal Designer and the Principal Contractor will be responsible for mandatory occurrence reporting. During occupation, the principal accountable person and accountable person(s) will be responsible for mandatory occurrence reporting under section 87(1) of the Building Safety Act 2022 (the Act). Failure to report an occurrence without a reasonable excuse will be a criminal offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine.