Training complete isn't competence: what the Building Safety Act asks you to evidence

What the Act asks Accountable Persons to show

The Building Safety Act 2022 created a new regime for higher-risk residential buildings: those at least 18 metres or seven storeys tall with at least two residential units. Accountable Persons for these buildings have to assess building safety risks, mainly the spread of fire and structural failure, and take reasonable steps to manage them.

That duty sits alongside other requirements: a safety case report, a resident engagement strategy, a mandatory occurrence reporting system and the golden thread of building information. Each of them depends on people on site noticing problems and handling them correctly.

Why certificates fall short

Most organisations already train their teams. The difficulty is that a completion record answers a different question. It tells you a concierge sat through fire safety awareness in March. It does not tell you they know this building's evacuation strategy, who to call when a fire door is wedged open, or what to write down afterwards.

The question that matters isn't “were they trained?” It's “how do you know they know?”

Procedures also change. A new fire risk assessment, a revised evacuation strategy or a change of contractor can make last year's training out of date overnight, without anyone's record changing.

What evidence of understanding looks like

Good evidence comes from asking people to explain what they would do in a realistic situation on their own site, then checking the answer against your approved procedures. A strong answer covers five things.

• ActThe correct first action
• WhyTied to this site's risks
• EscalateWho to tell, and when
• RecordWhat to log, and where
• BoundaryWhat not to do themselves

The answer is then reviewed by a named person, who records how well each answer met the standard and whether the overall result is evidenced or needs follow-up. That decision, with the evidence behind it, is the record you keep.

Where to start

1. List the procedures your building safety case relies on people following.
2. For each one, name the roles who need to act on it, including contractors.
3. Write two or three realistic scenarios per role, using your own site and documents.
4. Agree who reviews the answers, and what happens to a weak one.