Building Safety Act 2022
The Building Safety Act 2022: higher-risk buildings
Updated 2026
The Building Safety Act 2022 created a stronger regime for higher-risk buildings, generally those at least 18 metres or seven storeys tall with two or more residential units. It puts duties on an accountable person to assess and manage building safety risks, maintain a golden thread of information, and keep residents informed. Controlling and recording who accesses communal and plant areas is part of managing those risks in practice.
- 1. Building Safety Act 2022
- 2. HSE
- 3. legislation.gov.uk
A new regime for higher-risk buildings
Following the Grenfell Tower fire and the Hackitt review, the Building Safety Act 2022 established the Building Safety Regulator and a more rigorous approach to the design, construction and occupation of higher-risk buildings.
During occupation, the accountable person (and, where there is more than one, the principal accountable person) must assess building safety risks, the spread of fire and structural failure, and take all reasonable steps to manage them.
The golden thread and the safety case
The Act introduces the idea of a golden thread: accurate, up-to-date building information that is available to the people who need it. Accountable persons must prepare a safety case report showing how risks are being managed.
Knowing and recording who has been in communal areas, risers and plant rooms, and being able to show that only authorised, competent people accessed them, is a practical contribution to that evidence base.
Access control and communal-area records
The Salvus Network gives operatives and contractors a safety tag detected at Safety Detection Points across communal and plant areas, so a landlord can control who enters higher-risk spaces and hold a timestamped record of every entry.
Combined with lone-worker cover for the staff who inspect and maintain these buildings, this supports the wider duty to manage safety risks and to evidence that the building is being looked after.
The Salvus Safety Desk
HSE research & compliance team
The Salvus Safety Desk is our in-house health, safety and compliance team, drawing on frontline experience across COMAH, DSEAR and CDM sites to translate regulation into practical, real-time controls.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a higher-risk building?+
In broad terms, a building at least 18 metres tall or with at least seven storeys, containing two or more residential units. The precise definition and any exclusions are set out in the Act and secondary legislation.
Who is the accountable person?+
The accountable person is the organisation or individual who owns or is responsible for a higher-risk building's structure or common parts during occupation. Where there is more than one, a principal accountable person coordinates.
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