The BSR ensures the enforcement of the Building Safety Act 2022 through stringent regulations, reporting and penalties for non compliance.
In a nutshell:
• As part of their role, the BSR enforces regulation through compliance notices and penalties.
• The BSR has the right to enter premises and obtain any evidence of a violation of regulations.
• Failure to comply with any provision of the building regulations may result in imprisonment of up to two years and/or an unlimited fine.
• The BSA 2022 introduces an offence for a person who contravenes a provision of the building regulations.
• If an organisation is found guilty of non-compliance, senior members can be prosecuted.
The Building Safety Regulator
The new regulations introduced by BSA 2022 are upheld by the Building Safety regulator as part of their role to ensure the safety of higher-risk buildings. Within this role, it is also important they exercise their powers in line with regulatory best practices and target enforcement activity in cases where action is needed. The BSR’s approach is through enforcement methods that are proportionate to the severity of the offence.
What is the role of the Building Safety Regulator and how does this differ from existing regulators?
One way in which the Building Safety Regulator can regulate compliance is by conducting investigations when they become aware of potential breaches and professional misconduct by the building control profession. The BSR possesses the right to enter domestic and non-domestic premises and seize anything that may be evidence of an offence under the BSA.
If there is evidence of a violation, the BSR has the power to issue compliance notices, stop notices, and penalty notices. If these enforcement notices are not complied with this is classed as a criminal offence that can result in prosecution.
Penalties
Section 39 of the Building Safety Act specifies that any person who fails to comply with any provision of the building regulations will be subject to imprisonment of up to two years and/or an unlimited fine. This is a vast change from previous legislation where non-compliance was categorised as a summary offence.
Additionally, section 39 of the BSA introduces an offence for a person who contravenes a provision of the building regulations and increases the penalty of a summary offence to imprisonment of up to two years and/or an unlimited fine. Further examples of an offence would be providing false or misleading information to the BSR and removing any evidence that points to non-compliance.
If an organisation commits an offence, the BSA specifies that senior members of the organisation may also be prosecuted where the offence is committed with their consent or as a result of negligence.
It’s important to remember that these lengthy measures are intended as a deterrent with the sole purpose of keeping buildings safe and invoking positive reformation in the construction industry.