Health & Safety Risk Assessment in Communal Areas
We have partnered with Block in a Box who provide a range of useful services for blocks of flats and apartments. For a quote visit the Block in a Box website.
All blocks of flats must have a risk assessment carried out on the health and safety of any common areas. It is a requirement of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. You may argue common areas are not “at work” but if any cleaner, gardener, managing agent or repair contractor enters them, then a risk assessment must be made.
Health and Safety Property Management
The following summarises the main health and safety regulations that apply to blocks of flats. There are many others.
- Responsibility for carrying out a Health & Safety Risk Assessment in your building could be with the owner (freeholder) the Residents’ Management Company, a Right to Manage Company or a Managing Agent.
- Health & safety should never be ignored or dismissed because it requires additional expenditure as the cost of failing to comply if there is an accident or injury may be far greater than the cost to comply.
Remember to include all areas including gardens, grounds, plant rooms, meter cupboards and lift motor rooms.
If there are no employees working at the block there is no requirement to record the risk assessment but it would be “best practice” to do so anyway as if there were to be an accident and you had no proof of a risk assessment being carried out, you are much more likely to be prosecuted and/or sued for negligence.
The risk assessment should be looked at annually to reassess the situation.
Block in a Box have partnered with 4Site Consulting who can provide you with a quote for all your Health and Safety Assessment needs.
For a quote, visit the Block in a Box website here or call 0333 015 4145.
