The Three Pillars Of 100% Safety Compliance

Social housing is moving into a new, tougher era of regulation. At the same time many social housing providers acknowledge they have significant compliance gaps – even with existing regulations.

Regulatory changes on the near horizon include implementation of the Building Safety Bill and alterations to the Fire Safety Order. New regulations bring in additional rights for tenants and a regulator with greater enforcement powers.

Now is an excellent time to evaluate where you stand on safety compliance. Do you have gaps, if so, why? And what do you need to do to fill those gaps?

While compliance in the key areas of gas, fire, electrical, asbestos and legionella is complex, it essentially rests on three pillars: culture, data and systems.

Culture

Compliance failures tend to lurk in the dark corners where nobody wants to shine a light. When issues escalate and reputations are suddenly on the line the response is often one of surprise.

Accepting that there might be a problem is the first step towards fixing it. A healthy compliance culture is one where everyone is fully committed to openness. In this type of culture potential compliance issues are highlighted as a priority and shared with the Board and, if necessary, the regulator.

Being open is easier if you have confidence in the information you are sharing. This leads to the next pillar: data.

Data

Compliance is becoming more data-driven. Without data you can trust, where are you?

Data collection and analysis is more difficult when you have multiple organisations delivering property services. But it’s not impossible.

Osborne has developed a solution that can extract compliance data from multiple sources in just about any format. We can then process that data and present it through a clear data dashboard.

With usable data you can identify gaps, see trends and plan cost-effective remedial action.

Systems

Managing compliance data on Excel spreadsheets or manually-updated legacy databases represents a high degree of risk. You need one single version of the truth that’s updated in real time.

Compliance data should be collected in real time via cloud-based technology immediately once checks or works are completed. You can’t achieve modern standards of safety compliance using outdated systems.

The road to 100% compliance starts with an honest assessment of where you stand regarding these three pillars. Fixing the culture is largely an internal issue. When it comes to data and systems, Osborne can help.

For more information contact Alex McLean [email protected] or take a look at our resource centre.