The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) has today published its annual summary of the notifiable events reported by Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) during 2024/25.

Notifiable events are things that RSLs must report to the Regulator as they could potentially pose a risk to tenants’ interests, the landlord’s operations, or the broader reputation of the social housing sector.

In 2024/25, RSLs submitted 50 notifiable events within the health and safety category, as opposed to 42 the previous year.

The Regulator reported that:

🔹 Health and Safety NEs are not reported under formal subgroups, however a review of submitted NEs in this category shows that falling architectural elements, missing safety checks and fires were the most frequently reported NEs, accounting for close to half of submitted NEs in this category.

🔹 Staff/Contractor injuries, RAAC, cladding, missed asbestos surveys and other miscellaneous issues made up the remainder of the NEs reported in this category.

You can read more here.

Earlier this year we were delighted to introduce the ‘Butterfly Bursary’, a training and development fund which has been established to offer FREE training places on courses delivered by Housing H&S Compliance UK Ltd & HHSC Learning to members of Women in Tenant Safety Scotland (WiTSS). The Butterfly Bursary is an integral part of WiTSS’ ongoing commitment to supporting women working in tenant and resident safety in social housing in Scotland and aims to provide training and learning opportunities to members to enhance their knowledge in a range of safety subjects. You can find out more about WiTSS here and about the Butterfly Bursary here.

The first free training places as part of the Butterfly Bursary were allocated earlier this year; we initially offered one free place on our popular IOSH Approved Managing Safely in Social Housing course and were inundated with applications. Due to the level of interest, we decided to give away three places!

Click here to find out what the three ladies who were awarded the training places said about why they applied and what they got from the course…

The British Standards Institution (BSI) has published a new specification on modern methods of construction (MMC) for residential developments

Published on 30 April 2025, PAS 8700:2025 Modern methods of construction for new-build residential properties – Specification sets out the process for the effective deployment of modern methods of construction (MMC) in residential development to improve stakeholder understanding and realise the benefits of MMC. As the sector has significantly evolved and matured, there is a need for greater consistency and comparability to increase the use of MMC.

This PAS has therefore been developed to provide a unified specification, which is material and technology agnostic, and to act as a coordinating document that directs readers to other technical requirements. The aim is to support the procurement, design, manufacture, construction and use of safe, resilient and repairable residential buildings that use MMC.

As BSI explains: “PAS 8700:2025 is the first standard specifically designed to define the effective use of Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) and MMC in residential building projects, encompassing both entire building systems and individual elements.

“It provides provisions for the sector on the consistent application of MMC throughout all project phases—from design and manufacturing to assembly, maintenance, adaptation, and end-of-life considerations.

“The standard aligns with existing technical regulations and accreditation schemes, avoiding duplication and unifying fragmented practices into a clear, accessible specification.”

BSI believes that effective deployment of MMC can bring multiple benefits to building projects, including “cost and timescale certainty, improved productivity, material efficiency, reduced labour, and overcoming skills shortages”. It could also enable better quality control, faster delivery, sustainable use of materials, and more.

You can find out more and download the document here.

The Scottish Housing Regulator has published a briefing on the potential implications for the regulation of social landlords in Scotland from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report and the English Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023.

Read more and download the briefing here.

We’ve put together a snapshot of how the Network has grown, which you can view here (or keep reading to find out more about what the Network is and who our members are…)

What is The Social Housing Safety Network Scotland?

It’s a fast-growing, dedicated tenant and resident safety network for colleagues across Scotland which was established two years ago by a small group of housing practitioners who have all worked in the social housing sector for many years and are subject specialists; they bring with them practical, experience-based knowledge.

The Network was created to focus on tenant and resident safety in Scotland and to provide information, guidance and networking collaboration for local authority, housing association and co-operative landlords; we encourage our members to tell us what they would like to see and the topics areas where they would like a focus.

Membership is open to all social housing providers, including Local Authorities, based in Scotland.

Member benefits

The benefits of joining continue to grow as the Network expands, these include:

• Self-assessment checklists
• Training matrix template
• Legislation tracker and KPI scorecard
• ‘Big 6’ policy and procedure sense check
• Dedicated resource website
• ‘Quick Guides’ and briefings
• Free and discounted webinars and events/get togethers
• 10% discount on training offered through Housing H&S Compliance UK Ltd
• Self-study ‘Knowledge Builders’
• Membership of Women in Tenant Safety Scotland (WiTSS)
• Online forum

Our members 

Without our members, we simply wouldn’t exist!

Our members are what make the Network and are a mix of housing associations, housing co-operatives and councils across Scotland. These include organisations as far north as Shetland, Inverness and Aberdeen, down to the border in Berwickshire and out to the West Coast in Oban, as well as lots based in the towns and cities in between, including Edinburgh, Paisley, Motherwell, Glasgow and across Fife.

You can view all our members here.

As the Network grows, we call upon our members for ideas and feedback to ensure the content provides up-to-date, relevant information and is driven by everyone who is part of the Network. We even have an established ‘Advisory Panel’ which consists of colleagues from our member organisations who work in the sector - they keep us focused on the ‘every day’ subjects that are important to everyone.

For more information about the Network, or to join us, please get in touch by visiting our website: we’d be pleased to chat to you about the benefits of membership and we can even pop out and see you, if you wish.

Falls are the biggest cause of accidental injury in the home, resulting in a staggering 80% of hospital admissions for accidental injury to people aged 65 and over in the UK. Community-based studies suggest that one in three over-65s, and half of over-80s, will experience at least one fall every year.

RoSPA estimates 212,000 falls are suffered by older adults in England’s housing association households every year. This is thought to be a very conservative figure based on single occupancy households and without consideration of the disproportionate impacts of deprivation and poor health outcomes felt by social renters.

Falls impose an immeasurable burden on society through physical and psychological harm. Between 5 and 20% of falls cause serious injuries - for example hip fractures or traumatic brain injuries. These often require expedited property adjustment, adaptation or relocation, placing a strain on housing services that is difficult to forecast and plan for.

Injuries, dampened confidence and lost independence can lead to property neglect and reliance on care and social support - all of which damage community adhesion. Some falls might trigger a negative spiral, leading to increased vulnerability, safeguarding issues, and further complexity to interactions between renter and their social landlord.

Based on a hugely successful pilot at Staffordshire-based housing association Trent & Dove, RoSPA has developed a toolkit aimed at reducing the impact of tenant falls in social housing. The model combines staff training, home safety checks and effective partnership working to address fall risks and facilitate a measurable reduction in number of falls suffered by participants.

The 3-component toolkit contains novel materials developed specifically for the social housing sector. It includes practical ideas to support tenants reduce their falls risk and home safety check sheets to ensure tenants are given consistent and reliable advice.

You can read more and download the toolkit here.

HSE inspectors are visiting the head offices of councils across the country to ensure asbestos risks are being managed effectively to keep people safe. 

The duty to manage asbestos covers a wide range of buildings, some regulated by HSE and others regulated by colleagues in local authorities.

For further information on the duty to manage asbestos, you can:

• Read the press release about the local authority inspections
• Watch HSE's video: preparing for a duty to manage asbestos inspection
• Download the Asbestos – Your Duty campaign assets
• Access Welsh language guidance

Scottish Building Regulations: Proposed review of fire safety topics including Cameron House Hotel recommendations:

Fire safety risks in traditional buildings used as hotels, review of current provision on fire suppression, combustible cladding and other issues

The Scottish Government issued a consultation in December 2024 to consider changes to the standards and processes set within The Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (as amended) and other published guidance documents to improve provisions addressing fire safety.

The consultation seeks to obtain the views and opinions of stakeholders on a review of building standards relating to the fire safety of historic buildings converted for hotel use and several other specific fire safety issues, to help ensure the safety of people in and around Scotland's buildings.

The consultation is a lengthy document; it includes aspects that would affect the social housing sector, including (but not limited to):

• 2.3 Amending the scope of application of mandatory standard 2.15 ‘Automatic Fire Suppression Systems’ to extensions of and conversions to flats, maisonettes or social housing dwellings.
• 2.5 Miscellaneous fire safety issues
  • 2.5.2. Low level emergency lighting
  • 2.5.3. External premises information plates
  • 2.5.4. Clause 2.7.1 of the Domestic and Non-domestic Technical Handbook (External wall cladding systems  ECWS)
  • 2.5.5. Regulation 8(4) and exemptions to European Classification A1 and A2 components that form part of an external wall cladding system
  • 2.5.6. Exit width from rooms in non-domestic buildings
  • 2.5.8. BS EN 13637:2015 Electrically controlled exit systems for use on escape routes

The full consultation information can be found here.

Responding to this consultation

This consultation runs for 12 weeks from 13 December 2024 with responses to this consultation to be received by 7 March 2025.

Please respond to this consultation using the Scottish Government consultations Hub - Citizen Space .