If you have had a Health, Safety and Fire Risk Assessment carried out on your building or a building you manage, you would have likely noticed that your report includes both hazards and legal non-compliances.
Whilst hazards are the Physical Risks identified at a property that have the potential to cause harm (i.e., trip hazards), legal non-compliances refer to any process issues, such as inspection regimes and routine tests; issues usually made evident by lack of sufficient documentation.
We often get asked about documentation; specifically, what is required and how you can ensure the Risk Assessor has access to it. Therefore, we have put together a quick guide on the different types of documentation and how you can use our free client portal to upload and manage it.
Firstly, why is it important that you have relevant and up to date safety information for your building?
Hazards and physical risks to your building may be easier to spot, but you must not underestimate the importance of regular testing and inspections (i.e., fire door inspections, electrical testing and lift servicing) and the documentation that evidences this.
Of course, the main reason why lack of documentation raises concern is due to the safety of residents, workers and visitors to the site. As somebody who is responsible for the communal areas of a residential block, it is your responsibility to ensure that the required testing and inspections are carried out regularly, and that you have the documentation to prove this.
What documentation is needed?
Below, we have listed some of the common documentation that you may need to evidence for your building:
- Accident Record Book/ Accident Reporting Procedure including RIDDOR.
- Contractor Vetting
- Electrical Test Certificates
- Emergency Lighting Documentation
- Asbestos Removal Documentation
- Evidence of Communication with Leaseholders/ Residents (re: their individual flat entrance doors, fire safety within non-communal areas, and the emergency plan for the property)
- Dry & Wet Riser Inspections
- Electric Gate Inspection Records
- Enforcement and Improvement Notices
- Gas Safety Certificates
- Lift Service Reports
- Fire Alarm Documents
- Fire Extinguisher Records
- Lightening Conductor Inspection
- Working at Height Equipment Records
- Site Inspection Reports
- Training Records or Certificates
- Water System Log Book
- Waste Transfer notes
- Safety Communication for Contractors
- Portable Appliance Testing
This list is not exhaustive and you will not need to evidence each document for every site that you manage (for example, some sites may not have a lift or require asbestos related documents). However, if you do have any of these documents please make sure that they are in date and made available.
How can you ensure your Risk Assessor has access to the required documentation for the site?
You can ensure that these documents are available to our Risk Assessors and Surveyors by uploading them on your online portal before the assessment takes place. Alternatively, if documentation is held onsite it is important that you advise us where so that the assessor can view and record for the purpose of the Risk Assessment.
As a company we do send a courtesy email after attending and carrying out an assessment if documentation is missing. This gives clients 24 hours to upload or send across this documentation. Of course, any documentation sent after this time period will unfortunately not impact the report, as amending a report after it has been compiled and issued has the potential to undermine the integrity of the report itself.
4site Online Client Portal
If you’ve had your Risk Assessment carried out by us, you probably already know that you have free access to our online portal where you can manage your reports and upload all of the required documentation for your site before we visit. This can be easily categorised and is a helpful tool to organise the documentation for each property you manage. You can also upload past Risk Assessments and Surveys for the Building.
Our Client Portal is free for our clients, if you would like more information about this then please get in touch and we’d be happy to talk you through it or provide you with a demo.
