[ad_1]
A London borough has breached the Regulator of Social Housing’s (RSH) Home Standard because of a lack of assurance that it has complied with statutory health and safety requirements across areas including fire, gas and electrical safety.
Sharelines
In a statement, Ealing Council said it referred itself to the regulator after an internal audit of its building safety work highlighted a number of improvements that needed to be made.
According to a regulatory notice published this morning, the audit found that a significant number of Ealing’s homes were recorded as not having an in-date fire risk assessment (FRA).
There was also no process to record FRA remedial actions, the regulator said.
The council is currently in the process of validating its fire safety data to assure the regulator that all properties have an FRA in place and that remedial work is being completed.
Ealing’s internal audit also revealed no evidence of monitoring of remedial works in relation to electrical, asbestos and water safety.
This information has led the regulator to conclude that Ealing Council has breached its Home Standard, meaning there was potential for serious detriment to its tenants.
Ealing Council said the finding is largely due to the fact that it fell behind on completing and verifying some of its safety checks, adding that it is now fully up to date on inspections and has completed the necessary gas and fire safety checks.
The local authority said it also needs to improve its data systems, policies and processes to ensure that all required safety checks are recorded and monitored.
According to the council, the COVID-19 pandemic played a “substantial” role in it falling behind on statutory checks due to the difficulty of accessing homes during lockdowns.
Ealing is one of a number of councils that have recently self-referred to the regulator due to health and safety issues. Other councils have included Barking and Dagenham, and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
The regulator will not be taking enforcement action against Ealing at this stage as it said the council is putting in place a programme to rectify its failings.
Ealing Council apologised “for any concern that this news might cause our residents”.
“We are taking this issue very seriously and have prioritised and completed all of the most important tasks,” the council said.
Sign up for our legal and regulation newsletter
[ad_2]
Source link
