Building MOT – Our unique service offering, from £299 + VAT

Quickly becoming our most popular service offering for clients, we chose the name Building MOT to try and encapsulate the thorough nature of this service. Rather than engaging multiple consultants, tying up staff resource and time, we use multiskilling to provide multiple services during a single site visit.

Take a look at what we include below.  For the cost most consultants will charge for a standard fire risk assessment, we go far beyond this, fully evaluating every aspect of safety and environmental compliance of your building, and producing a comprehensive report and action plan.

Starting at £299 + VAT for a medium sized, single lift/staircase building, rising to £599 + VAT for large commercial or residential properties, we believe this represents fantastic value for money.

Fire Risk Assessment

All business premises of any size require a fire risk assessment to be conducted. This thorough, individual report will detail your current fire precautions and highlight any areas where further measures are required where your current protection is inadequate.

A fire risk assessment covers the following areas:

  • Identify fire hazards
  • Consider those people who may be at risk
  • Evaluate the above areas and reduce risks to protect person and premises
  • Record risks identified, plan how to prevent fires and give staff fire training
  • Review risk assessment to keep it up-to-date

Keeping a record of any significant findings is a legal requirement if you employ more than 5 people and is also helpful should your premises be audited by the Fire and Rescue Service. This is why upon completion of a risk assessment we will provide you with a written report to comply with the law. This should be maintained should a risk or your premises change over time to maintain compliance.

All risk assessments which we conduct are individual to your business and take into account your specific requirements. Building Compliance Associates will conduct an individual assessment of your premises and provide you with a comprehensive report identifying all areas of risk.

Health and Safety Audit

Health and safety auditing is the structured process of collecting independent information on the efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of the total health and safety management system and drawing up plans for corrective action (Successful Health & Safety Management HS(G)65, Health & Safety Executive).

Auditing is the most effective and reliable way of knowing whether best practice standards and procedures are being applied and of improving policy, standards and procedures in the light of new requirements.

BCA assist small, medium, large and high risk businesses undertake comprehensive audits of their Health and Safety Management System and associated sites.

Our third party audits are carried out against the requirements of UK legislation and the principles contained in the Health and Safety Executive guidance on Health and Safety Management Systems, HS(G)65 ” Successful Health and Safety Management) and OHSAS 18001 as well as measuring your status against legal compliance and your own internal systems and standards.

BCA will show exactly how you measure up to legal requirements, and whether your performance is up to standard. It will act as a benchmark from which you can form a Health and Safety Action Plan.

A prioritised action plan will be produced to guide any required improvements. We would be happy to assist with any recommendations but this is totally up to the client and they are free to implement the recommendations without our assistance if required.

Energy and Environment

Our Associates have extensively in the energy environmental industry, providing high quality technical advice and delivering services built on extensive practical experience. We will evaluate your property for compliance in;

• Commercial and trade waste

• Hazardous waste

• Bulky waste

• F-Gas Compliance

• Drainage systems

We will also undertake a high level energy efficiency survey of the property during the walk round, identifying areas of potential energy savings.

Asbestos Management

We will evaluate the compliance of the building with the requirements of  the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.

As part of the site review, we will evaluate existing survey documentation that identifies any asbestos locations in the building and evaluate the adequacy of this in relation to what is seen on site.

For identified asbestos we will evaluate the current condition, and look at the existing inspection regime.

We will also evaluate the quality of any existing asbestos management plans and any documentation available to site contractors.

Disabled Access

To ensure that physical barriers to access are identified, we have developed our own survey DDA Audit Checklist to be utilised during the site walkround. From this we will identify courses of action that are reasonably appropriate under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995.

The Disabled Access Audit covers:

External Approach
Change in Levels
Entrance
Reception
Corridors
Ramps
Stairs & Lifts
WC’s, Showers & Baths
Internal Spaces
Signs
Changing
Travel Distances
Means of Escape
Customer Care

Powered Gate Risk Assessment

The HSE in May this year reiterated and clarified the requirements for this and we have adapted and improved our risk assessments to comply with this new ‘best practice’.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/powered-gates/safety.htm

Where we are asked to undertake a Building MOT, we will clarify in advance the existence of any automatic gates, and if required, will include this work within the visit.  Arrangements for safe gate operation during the day will be required, although the crush force testing can be done very quickly.

We check the key safety aspects of the powered gates – location, who uses them, gaps, hinges, crush areas, operation method, safety features e.g. leading edge detection, obstruction sensors, auto back off.

As well as the visual checks and force crush tests (measured using a calibrated force tester), we also look at the current maintenance being carried out, the contractor competency to do so, and we now formulate a detailed action plan for the property manager to work to.  As we’re not affiliated with any contractor it’s 100% impartial and independent.

The gates that need assessed are any powered gate, so this includes car park swing gates, roller shutters, car park barriers, powered pedestrian gates etc.

All the checks are non-invasive, and so there’s no isolations or removal of any panel etc.  The checks are visual and operational only, with any recommendations or concerns over condition to be followed up by your contractors.

 

Plant Maintenance

Critical to safe and efficient site operation, is the condition and maintenance of key plant.  With a solid engineering and facilities background, we will evaluate current maintenance regimes in relation to safe and efficient building operation.

It will be helpful if during the site visit a representative from the M&E department/contractor is available with access to site records.

Legionella

BCA offer our clients a full risk appraisal of their premises against the requirements of ACoP L8 (Legionnaires Disease: The Control of Legionella Bacteria in Water Systems).

We will review the current risk assessment, if available, and advise on the suitability and compliance of the current maintenance, cleaning and sampling regime.

Would this be of interest?