ASSA ABLOY discusses the need for culture change in the building industry in new whitepaper

As Fire Door Safety Week is approaching in September, ASSA ABLOY has shared a brand new whitepaper, discussing the importance of compliance in building safety and the need for a culture shift in the build environment industry.

In this white paper, we discuss the ISSG’s recommendation for tackling the issues in three key areas - Leadership and Collaboration, Compliance and Capacity building, and Responsibility and Transparency.

As the facilitator for safety regulation, the Industry Safety Steering Group’s 2022 annual report highlights the importance of leadership across the building sector and the need to challenge our own safety standards, in an effort to find innovative solutions to the present issues around safety and culture. In post-Grenfell days, the building industry must stop relying on legislation as the only tool to drive change and shift from purely cost-based decision-making to considering life cycle costing at the initial stages of development. While businesses are often interested in cost-efficient solutions, any short-term savings can be lost if the product life cycle isn’t considered. If quality, performance and longevity are prioritised, not only could that prevent spending on safety compliance over time, it advocates the same principles the ISSG is looking to enforce in the industry culture.

Furthermore, the industry needs to urgently increase the competence and capacity of individuals, working in safety-critical roles. This also includes providing support in the search for competent individuals and organisations, by establishing industry-level competence standards. In support, the Competence Steering Group report ‘Setting the Bar’ provides the blueprint for companies to increase competence levels and ultimately drive cultural change. In addition, the BSI are currently developing national competence standards, which will include core criteria and competence frameworks to support the new building safety regime. Finally, Dame Judith Hackitt discusses the benefits of a ‘golden thread’ policy, to ensure the responsible parties take into account building safety in all stages of the lifecycle.

Lastly, the ISSG strives to increase transparent behaviour and practices, in order to support risk assessment and a ‘resident-centric’ approach to decision-making. They encourage an increase in voluntary safety reporting and transparency in their yearly data collection processes, as this will ultimately help us understand the bigger picture in the industry. The ISSG also strongly urge businesses to go above and beyond the minimum legal requirements, as a short-term solution, could often have a longer-lasting impact on performance.

For more details on the ISSG recommendations, read our whitepaper on Accelerating culture change.