Standards Development

Scope

This British Standard gives recommendations for core criteria for building safety to promote high standards of protection for people in and around buildings. It is applicable to buildings of all types and scales. It is intended to have wide application and relevance in modern construction and property markets throughout the UK and beyond.

Building safety in the context of this British Standard relates to the physical conditions created by new or existing buildings, their immediate surroundings and how these impact on the safety of occupants throughout the building lifecycle. This British Standard does not cover other matters which might affect safety, such as policing or crime.

This British Standard is intended for use by those with responsibility for the development,maintenance or application of sector-specific competence frameworks for roles, functions, activities or tasks undertaken by individuals where these are critical to and directly influence safety in and around buildings. This includes competence frameworks for technical and non-technical roles, and for individuals working under their own authority as well as under the supervision of other competent individuals.

This British Standard might also be relevant to regulated, duty-holding or statutory roles such as:

•   Principal Designers;

•   Principal Contractors;

•   Designers;

•   Contractors;

•   Building Safety Managers;

•   building control professionals; and

•   persons responsible for buildings in occupation.

NOTE Responsibility for ensuring that sector-specific frameworks are kept up to date rests with framework owners given that the scope of regulation and duty-holding roles is likely to change over time.

Persons with accountability for building safety or acting as clients for building work might also find the recommendations of this British Standard of use.

This British Standard is not intended to replace existing professional, technical or vocational training or competence frameworks which continue to reflect the full range of competences required for particular disciplines, roles, functions, activities or tasks.

This British Standard does not cover organizational and team competence.

Purpose

This proposal is for the conversion of BSI Flex 8670 v3.0 to a British Standard, BS 8670.

This British Standard is intended to support wider industry reform with the ultimate objective of minimizing safety risks and improving protection to consumers and occupants, including residents, in and about buildings. There are three overarching objectives:

a) set core criteria for building safety competence, including fire safety, structural safety and public health for all individuals working in the built environment, to improve safety outcomes throughout the building lifecycle;

b) facilitate consistent and objective development, evaluation or use of sector-specific competence frameworks by certification, licensing, accrediting, qualifying, and validating bodies, regulators, clients and employers; and

c) support progressive development of a more consistent approach in the development and use of competence frameworks across the built environment.

This British Standard is also intended to meet the following specific objectives:

1) support development of a robust oversight, monitoring and feedback process for sector-specific competence frameworks;

2) support development of competence frameworks for key duty-holding or appointed roles in managing safety;

3) identify core building safety criteria that are likely to be common to all sector-specific competence frameworks;

4) support commonality and consistency in building safety competence across sector-specific frameworks; and

5) support individuals and organizations working in the built environment to move towards progressively adopting an approach based on validation and periodic revalidation.

This British Standard will set core building safety criteria for built environment competence frameworks. It is intended that the core criteria be contextualized within sector-specific frameworks to reflect the appropriate scope and level of competence required for an individual to undertake a defined role, function, activity, or task. Contextualization can be:

a) within sector-specific competence frameworks, e.g. to reflect differing seniority or responsibility; and/or

b) in relation to specific types of buildings or activities, e.g. higher-risk buildings or, for example, manufacturing of construction products.

Compliance with the British Standard can be achieved by mapping new or existing sector specific frameworks against the core competence criteria and scope, and explaining any divergence arising from the context within which the framework will be used.

The British Standard will form one part of a broader standards framework for competence of individuals in the built environment.