Higher-risk buildings in occupation Duty to manage risks and safety cases
The Act creates an ongoing duty on the Accountable Person to assess the building safety risks relating to their building, to take all reasonable steps to prevent a building safety risk materialising, and to limit the severity of any incident resulting from such a risk. Building Safety risks are defined in the Act as risks to the safety of persons in or about buildings resulting from the occurrence of fire spread, structural failure and any other risk that may be prescribed by regulations in the future.
	The Accountable Person will need to demonstrate how they are meeting this ongoing duty via their safety case and Safety Case Report, which they will be required to keep up to date. The safety case comprises the full body of evidence relating to the assessments and ongoing management of building safety risks.
	The Accountable Person will be required to submit the building’s Safety Case Report to the Building Safety Regulator as part of the process for issuing a Building Assessment Certificate or on request from the Building Safety Regulator. The report should summarise all the key components of the wider safety case, providing a justification for the safety measures in place. It will include references to supporting documentation and safety information, including all the evidence that supports how these building safety risks are being assessed and managed, contained within the golden thread of information. A key part of the report will be the overview of the Accountable Person’s safety management system (SMS), which explains the policies, procedures and processes they have in place across the organisation to deliver continuous management of building safety risks.
	The Safety Case Report should set out the building safety risks in the building and how these are being managed on an on-going basis, to ensure resident safety.
	The Act also includes that the Accountable Person must review the risk assessments on which their arrangements for managing building safety risks and Safety Case Report are based, and revise the report if they consider the report is no longer valid or they are requested to do so by the Building Safety Regulator. Where a Safety Case Report is revised, the Building Safety Regulator must be notified. In addition to assessing the Safety Case Report as part of the Building Assessment Certificate process, the Building Safety Regulator may request the submission of a Report where necessary, for example following a notification of a revision.
	On assessment, if the Building Safety Regulator is of the opinion that the Safety Case Report does not demonstrate that the ongoing duty is met, they will enter into a dialogue with the Accountable Person on what further measures are needed in their risk management and safety arrangements and should be evidenced within the Safety Case Report.
	Where agreement cannot be reached, the Building Safety Regulator will be able to issue a compliance notice, setting out specific areas of concern and, where appropriate, actions the Accountable Person must take in order to ensure the duty is met. Continued failure to comply with the notice means there is continued breach of the statutory obligation and criminal and/or Special Measures proceedings may ensue.