66  Competency frameworks

a The content of the Safety Case file and the Fire & Emergency
File should be mandated with the information managed by a
competent person.
b The information should be held digitally on a National
Database.
c The Fire & Emergency File should become mandatory for
most residential buildings, both new and existing.

The scope of the draft building safety bill is limited to fire and structural
safety, but WG8 believes that the regime should go further and recom-
mends a holistic “whole systems and life safety approach”. To drive this,
WG8 has urged the industry to develop “whole systems” guidance, even
though there will be no statutory obligation to do so.12

Summary
Work undertaken in the last two years and the publication of the com-
petency reports show a determination within the construction indus-
try to embed quality assurance through a programme of continuous
third-party, impartial assessment. There is a clear intent to provide re-
assurance and rebuild the trust of residents by demanding professional
competence in those roles that are crucial in the devising of robust
safety systems to protect residents.
Accredited third-party certification of organisations together with
the verification of individual competencies allows insurance and con-
sumer protection requirements to be made mandatory. WG2 expressed
the hope that the new competency requirements would operate in tan-
dem with established systems such as the Competent Person Scheme
and TrustMark to avoid firms incurring unnecessary, additional costs.13
 Competency frameworks 67
General criticisms have been levelled at competency frameworks,
suggesting that they focus on the past and cannot keep pace with a rap-
idly changing commercial landscape. There are concerns that they may
be bureaucratic and not user-friendly, creating “clones” as everybody
is expected to behave in the same fashion.14 At this stage, the main
barrier to effective implementation is that the draft Building Safety Bill
does not mandate those working on higher-risk buildings to be assessed
against the competence frameworks. Instead, it is expected that respon-
sible firms will want to adopt the competence frameworks. However,
if no regulatory pressure is brought to bear, there is a real risk that the
culture of winning work by “gaming the system” will be perpetuated.
The new role of BSM clearly requires a broad breadth of knowledge
alongside a detailed technical skill-set. Whilst knowledge can be
measured by gaining a professional qualification, the real concerns
within the industry focus on a BSM’s ability to communicate with the
residents of a high-risk building. This concern is driven by the fact that
there is no straightforward solution to producing a resident strategy,
not least because the demographic of any group of residents is invari-
ably diverse, varied and complex. Softer skills such as effective and
empathetic communication will need to be nurtured by practice with
appropriate supervision for the inexperienced, aspiring BSM before
they can be formally assessed.15

Notes
1 Competence Steering Group (2019) Raising the Bar: Interim Report.
CIC. raising-the-barinterimfinal-1.pdf (cic.org.uk) (Accessed 29/1/2021).
2 See page 6 of Competence Steering Group (2020) Setting the Bar: A New
Competence Regime for Building a Safer Future. CIC. setting-the-bar-
exec-summary-final.pdf (cic.org.uk) (Accessed 30/1/2021).
3 See page 7 of Competence Steering Group (2020) Setting the Bar: A New
Competence Regime for Building a Safer Future. CIC.
4 See page 8 of Competence Steering Group (2020) Setting the Bar: A New
Competence Regime for Building a Safer Future. CIC.
5 See page 10 of Competence Steering Group (2020) Setting the Bar: A
New Competence Regime for Building a Safer Future. CIC.
6 Hackitt, J (2018) Building a Safer Future: Independent Review of Building
Regulations and Fire Safety: Final Report. Independent Review of Build-
ing Regulations and Fire Safety: final report - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
7 See page 15 of Competence Steering Group (2020) Setting the Bar: A
New Competence Regime for Building a Safer Future. CIC.
8 Working Group 8 (2020) Safer People, Safer Homes: Building Safety Man-
agement. annex-8a-safer-people-safer-homes-building-safety-management.
pdf (cic.org.uk) (Accessed 10/2/2021).
9 See page 53 of Hackitt, J (2018) Building a Safer Future: Independent
Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety: Final Report.