The conference kicked off on day one, as has become tradition, by hearing from Nicola Harcus from the Scottish Housing Regulator who gave a great overview of upcoming considerations for tenant safety and beyond, including the importance of knowing your own stock and its condition along with valid data; as you would expect, the session generated lots of questions and interaction.

We heard from our asbestos specialist Matt, which brought us up to date with a current HSE consultation around the asbestos regulations as well as sharing his thoughts on the importance of setting asbestos survey scopes and holding surveyors to account in providing the correct information.

We heard from our lift specialist Conor who was speaking alongside Grant Clayton, Director of West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative, following a lift condition exercise that they had recently conducted and which provided valuable insight and data for the longerterm asset management strategy of the organisation.

We also heard from our electrical specialist Jamie who shared some common findings from the assurance reviews that Housing H&S Compliance UK Ltd have undertaken over the last 12 months or so, which shared some of the areas where some common themes had emerged; again, the session generated some great discussion and some questions to take away.

We tackled the subject of ‘passive fire safety’ with a joint session from our fire safety specialist Ian and ASFP Chair and Director of Avesta Scotland Ltd, Sharon McClure; a really insightful session that opened the eyes for so many delegates as to what could go wrong if passive compartmentation was not installed correctly and how the retention of documentation following any works is of paramount importance.

We rounded off the day almost where we started in terms of talking about the importance of knowing your stock and holding the correct data of your properties to inform each of the tenant safety programmes. Gavin Wright, Head of Property Management at Bield Housing and Care shared their journey of ‘data led transformational change’ and how systems driven data, technology and AI has led to improvement across the organisation.

To open day two we were delighted to welcome along our other keynote speaker, Kerry Clayton, Chief Executive of TIS, who spoke about strengthening safety and building trust: engaging tenants in safer homes. An insightful session that shared details from a pilot scheme that saw tenant scrutiny of dampness and mould within a housing association and the value that it brought from a different perspective.

We also heard from Amy from Brodies LLP who gave an insightful session on the upcoming implementation of Awaab’s Law and how this ‘might’ look in Scotland, looking at the English requirements as a comparison whilst we wait for the official guidance to be issued.

Hot on the heels of Amy’s session we heard from our colleague David Bookbinder from Glasgow West of Scotland Forum who gave us a very open and honest account of keeping things in proportion, not only for Awaab’s Law, but also for the wider health and safety requirements; excellent feedback and a look at things from a different perspective and the ‘other side’ again generated lots of discussion and interaction.

We heard from our specialist Conor again on day two, this time in relation to ventilation and pressure systems in social housing and ‘what you need to know’, including understanding how effective ventilation is the primary defence against poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), condensation, and mould.

Our specialist and Network co-founder Ryan shared findings from the water hygiene assurance reviews that he has conducted over the last couple of years and provided some ‘take aways’ for delegates to think about and confirm they had in place in their own organisations.

Day two was rounded off perfectly by Katy McGregor who charted Calvay Housing Association’s compliance journey with lessons in leadership and learning.

A truly wonderful presentation that not only provided a valuable insight into how their journey has been one of learning and improvement but also summed up everything that had gone before over the two days of the conference. To quote Katy’s words:

‘No matter which specialist field is under the spotlight, fire, asbestos, electric, gas, lifts, legionella damp/mould. What truly matters is the safety and wellbeing of every tenant affected by any one of these risks. For someone living in their home, each hazard has the potential to carry life-changing consequences and none is more or less important than another when seen through the eyes of a person whose health and safety is compromised. In housing, every risk matters equally, and every solution makes a difference to someone’s home’

What inspirational words which resound unequivocally with The Social Housing Safety Network Scotland and absolutely epitomises our slogan of ‘shining a light on tenant and resident safety social housing Scotland’ – for that very reason! We say it every year, but we truly believe that this was the best conference yet – just look at the feedback!