Why Do I Need A Property Risk Assessment?
As you may or may not know, in a conventional setup the communal areas in flats are classified by the HSE as “Non-Domestic Premises”. The flats themselves are considered to be private dwellings and are thus considered to be “domestic” and are exempt.
In the case of shared housing such as HMO’s, student housing etc, the set up may be different and communal bathrooms, kitchens etc. would be part of the ”Non-Domestic Premises”.
As a consequence of this classification, Common Areas are to all intents and purposes, a form of workplace and therefore covered by The Health & Safety At Work Act 1974 and in particular the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
Being covered by this legislation means that the responsible party, whether that is a landlord, managing agent or collection of freeholders, have a duty (under section 4 of the Act) towards people who use their premises. This duty is to protect the health and safety of everyone in the “workplace”, and ensure that adequate welfare facilities are provided for people at work. An example of such persons may be cleaners, maintenance contractors, fire alarm engineers and also people visiting the flats.
What Is A Property Risk Assessment?
The Property Risk Assessment (Flats) service we provide, is a workplace risk assessment which is specifically tailored to the communal areas within and around blocks of flats. We have developed this service in response to an increasing number of requests from our existing clients.
We recognise that, because budgets are usually quite tight when it comes to managing flats, the service needs to be streamlined and does not require the standard approach.
Our service follows the standard risk assessment approach;
- Identify the hazards
- Decide who might be harmed
- Evaluate the risks
- Record and implement your findings
- Review your assessment
However we tailor our service by concentrating on the activities which are specifically carried out at the premises. Examples of this may include regular cleaning, window cleaning, building maintenance, alarm inspections etc.
Most activities will be low risk so there is little point in taking a long-winded and bureaucratic approach which is more likely to confuse than demistify.
For more information on our Property Risk Assessment service for flats, either fill in the short contact form below, or click this link to get a quotation.
