October 2024 round-up
The Social Housing Safety Network Scotland
The Social Housing Safety Network Scotland - providing a focus on tenant and resident safety
Annual Conference 2024: Just 23 days to go!
We’re nearly at the final countdown for this year’s Annual Conference - bookings are still open but there’s not much time left to claim your place if you’d like to join us.
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible there!
We’ve teamed up with Brodies LLP
We are proud to announce the will be working working in partnership with Brodies LLP, a UK top 50, and Scotland's leading, law firm.
Brodies LLP has expertise in many sectors including the social housing sector and we’re delighted to link up with the firm to deliver legal updates and specialist webinars for our Network members.
We’ll be working alongside Amy Anderson, a senior associate in the Health and Safety Team at Brodies LLP, over the coming months to develop bespoke sessions especially for members and we’re also delighted to announce that Amy will be speaking at our Tenant & Resident Safety Annual Conference.
As The Social Housing Safety Network Scotland continues to grow, we’ll be expanding the work we do with Brodies LLP to bring even more relevant content, including briefings and specialist webinars to further enhance knowledge and shared practice in relation to tenant and resident safety across the sector.
Brodies LLP has offices across Scotland, including in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness, and offer considerable experience in working with public sector clients, including central and local government, regulatory bodies and housing associations. Their Legal Director, Fiona McLeod, is an accredited expert in Housing and Residential Tenancy Law.
Network Get Together: District Heating & Biomass Energy Centre - Member Visit
Last week a small group of Network members got together to visit West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative and hear more about the co-operative's biomass district heating system from Director, Grant Clayton.
The group heard from Grant about the district heating project, from the funding, through its development and how the system has benefited tenants and reduced their heating bills. We also heard about the specific compliance tasks and maintenance requirements of the biomass energy centre building and how it is managed 24/7, 365 days of the year to ensure that it continues to operate and supplies domestic heating and hot water to all flats in the multi-storey blocks as well as a number of properties in the surrounding lower rise blocks.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Grant for his time in delivering the talk and visit, and supporting colleagues from network member organisations, for what was a very informative ‘Get Together’.
‘No-show’ fees for free events
Going forward we have made the tough decision to implement a ￡15 ‘no-show’ fee for members who have booked a place on a free event and do not turn up and don’t let us know that they will not be attending.
We completely understand that things come up and plans change - all we ask is that you let us know you won’t be joining us, as soon as you are able to do so. This also allows us to offer your place to someone else if the event is full.
We order lunch for the events and when a few people don’t show up we end up with a lot of excess food - the money for which, could be put towards other network member benefits. The ￡15 fee is to just to cover this cost. Thank you for your understanding.
Sprinkler Protected Buildings: A Guide for Responsible Persons and Duty Holders
The British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association (BAFSA) have recently launched a new guide to help responsible persons and duty holders of sprinkler protected buildings.
The freely available publication, entitled Sprinkler Protected Buildings: A Guide for Responsible Persons and Duty Holders, summarises the main obligations imposed on the owner or occupier of a building or structure fitted with a sprinkler or water mist system.
Outlining the duties laid out in legislation, the guide also covers details around using third-party certified systems and installers, the proper maintenance of fire suppression systems, and the different requirements between residential/ domestic systems and industrial/commercial systems. It also provides details on water mist systems, what a responsible person must do in the event that a fire suppression system becomes non-operational, and how to minimise water damage.
Automatic sprinkler systems are a vital component in providing fire safety for buildings and their users, and as the guide states: “are universally recognised as the most effective way to protect people and property from fire. Evidence to support this contention can be found in BIF 19 Sprinkler Reliability and in the universal support enjoyed by sprinklers from both the fire and rescue service and the insurance industry.”
Understanding the requirements and carrying out inspections of fire doors in residential buildings
Housing H&S Compliance UK Ltd’s one day course combines all of the latest legislation and government guidance, together with the underpinning knowledge and crucially, an inspection methodology to provide landlords within the skillsets (in-house) to undertake the correct level of inspections in accordance with their legal requirements and associated responsibilities to the life safety of tenants and residents.
As a member of The Social Housing Safety Network Scotland you can book your place at a discounted rate. Click the banner to find out more.
Other upcoming training courses from HHSC
All of the training courses, delivered by subject-specialist practitioners, have been developed specifically for those colleagues operating in the social housing sector and include information that is relevant to the day to day work of many different job roles, including officers, managers, leaders and board members.
Network members are entitled to a discounted rate on all courses.
Upcoming courses include...
FREE webinars
Our ‘Back to Basics’ series of webinars takes a look at a specific safety-related subject and tell you what you should be doing to comply with the Regulations and standards – sometimes, it's about more than holding a certificate or assessment and ticking a box...