Manufacturers, construction firms and others in the industry will soon have new responsibilities to ensure the use of safe products, as set out in a recent government white paper – and they will face prison if they fail to comply.
Introduced as part of the wider response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the white paper includes new requirements for product safety assessments and clear labelling, new public sector testing capacity and improved digital traceability.
The changes, and their likely effect on the industry, were discussed by an expert panel at the recent UK Construction Week London event (12-14 May). “It feels to me like what happened with health and safety 30 years ago,” said Alistair Higgins, chief executive of architectural ironmongery firm Allgood. “The construction industry used to kill over 100 people every year, frankly because of a lack of attention, a shrugging of the shoulders and an acceptance that ‘Well, you can’t do anything about it.’
“This is where we are today with product specification and the marketing of products. We have been operating without transparency, without honesty – without integrity, in some cases. Not the majority of the industry, for sure, but it’s significant the number of occasions that have led to the construction of buildings that are poor quality and sometimes unsafe.”
Higgins described what he called a “wilful ignorance, that desire to put cost before safety” in the years before the Grenfell fire, which took the lives of 72 people. Cultural change is another aim of the white paper.
“It’s all very well having regulations, but if you don’t have a collective will within the industry and a belief that the regulations have meaning and that we’re going to implement them, the whole thing won’t work,” Higgins said at the Excel London conference centre. “It has to come from the top.”
Amanda Long, chief executive of not-for-profit organisation Code for Construction Product Information (CCPI), set out the new requirements facing all sides of the market. “If you’re a manufacturer or a merchant or a distributor, even if you’re a product user, if you make, sell or import construction products, you will need to make sure that your products come with relevant and comprehensive information, and that product claims are backed by evidence,” she said.
“[The government wants] product information to be up-to-date, accurate, verifiable – and, down the line, they’re going to be looking at it becoming digitally interoperable and traceable.”
Some manufacturers are being proactive but others are dragging their heels, said Clare Jones, procurement director of Mace Construct. “The larger ones are definitely pushing it forward much quicker than the smaller ones. And I think that will be a challenge, because we do understand that there is a cost attached to it – but I think the more we can encourage it, the better.”
The construction company is aiding its supply chain with support, including webinar sessions and office visits from the CCPI team, Jones said.
The upcoming changes will also introduce the threat of prison sentences for individuals working at companies that fail to follow new regulations. “The duties will be placed on directors of companies, and perhaps dutyholders as well… to do the right thing,” Higgins said.
“It focuses the mind on following the law. And if the law is saying that products have to be properly designed, properly specified, properly communicated, properly marketed, and that all those things have to run together in a ‘golden thread’ – and, indeed, properly maintained once they’re on site – people will start to change their mindset.”
He added: “I remember the revolution that came in safety [in the 1990s]. It took two or three years for those accident frequency rates to come tumbling down. It’s because the law changed, and then leaders of businesses across the sector realised ‘Ah, this is a moment of truth.’ I honestly feel we are at that moment now. Not everybody realises it yet, but it’s going to happen, and I would urge everybody to embrace it.”
IMechE also explored the implications of the new rules with the Building Safety 2026 event in March. Leading voices from industry and government, including Building Safety Regulator boss Lord Andrew Roe, discussed practical guidance to ensure people live in safe homes and the ways in which the new regulations can succeed.
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