THE FIRE Sector Federation (FSF) welcomed the government’s launch of the construction products regulator (CPR) as a ‘key step in the process of maintaining public confidence’ in building safety.
THE CPR was reported to have been set up to ‘police’ the construction industry and take over product safety tests from the Building Research Establishment (BRE), and have the ‘power to prosecute those who try to cheat housing safety laws’. It will employ a team of ‘safety enforcers’ who will track dangerous materials and put ‘rogue bosses who profit from them in the dock’, with the potential for company executives to face jail.
The move was made after ‘public outrage’ at the evidence heard at the Grenfell inquiry throughout the latter part of 2020, in which representatives from firms including insulation manufacturers Kingspan and Celotex revealed ‘scant regard for safety’ and the ability to ‘rig safety tests’. Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick had been said to have believed that these scandals are ‘Britain’s version of the VW emissions affair’ involving Volkswagen in 2015.
He was also quoted as hoping that the CPR will ‘stop the construction industry making dangerous products and avoiding safety checks’, with all firms having to ‘pass a strict test enforced’ by the CPR, and those ‘who try to avoid it will be punished’. He was also set to announce an investigation into how the products used on Grenfell ‘got round safety checks’, with the CPR to have the power to ban sales of ‘any construction material it considers unsafe’.
It will also be able to bring criminal charges against executives ‘who defy the rules’, with all building products having to be approved by the CPR. It will also take over product safety tests from BRE, which was ‘lambasted by lawyers’ for the bereaved and survivors at Grenfell, who told the inquiry that the fire was the result of ‘an uncaring and under-regulated building industry’.
Those lawyers added that BRE was ‘manipulated’ by ‘ruthless and criminal manufacturers’, and that the ‘testing and certification bodies provided no such protection but reinforced the dangerous and dishonest culture within the industry. They were far too close to those whom they were supposed to be overseeing and far too willing to accept their misleading claims’.
More details on the CPR included that it will be part of the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), and that it has been ‘established to ensure construction materials are safe’, with residents to ‘be protected’ by the regulator’s power to ‘remove any product from the market that presents a significant safety risk’ and to ‘prosecute any companies who flout the rules on product safety’.
It specifically cited the Grenfell inquiry’s recent hearings, which ‘shone a light on the dishonest practice[s]’ by manufacturers. These specifically included ‘deliberate attempts to game the system and rig the results of safety tests’, and the CPR ‘will have strong enforcement powers including the ability to conduct its own product-testing when investigating concerns’.
Businesses should ‘ensure that their products are safe before being sold’ as well as test them ‘against safety standards’, with the government calling the CPR the ‘next major chapter’ in its ‘fundamental overhaul’ of regulation. It will operate within the OPSS, which will be expanded and given up to £10m in funding ‘to establish the new function’, with the CPR to work with the new building safety regulator and Trading Standards ‘to encourage and enforce compliance’.
The government also commissioned an independent review to ‘examine weaknesses’ in previous testing regimes for construction products, and ‘to recommend how abuse of the testing system can be prevented’. It will be led by a panel of experts with regulatory, technical and construction industry experience and will report later this year with recommendations.
The FSF said that it welcomed the CPR, with executive officer Dennis Davis commenting: ‘We welcome the announcement of a national construction regulator, which is backed by an independent review of testing regimes. Some of the testimony our members have heard in the Grenfell Inquiry has been deeply disturbing and we welcome the announcement of a national construction regulator as a key step in the process of maintaining public confidence in the safety of our buildings.
‘The Inquiry highlighted the importance of the whole product assurance cycle and the need to review and identify the areas for improvement. The product assurance process, made more complicated by the introduction of new post Brexit arrangements, must be linked to third party assessment to extend beyond standard compliance to meet a broader goal that establishes fit for purpose in every application.
‘The [FSF] established a product assurance group last year to examine the issues related to standards of assurance of fire safety products and their applications in the built environment. We look forward to continuing our ongoing dialogue with the Minister for Building Safety, Fire and Communities in this area to raise the integrity of the whole product cycle so that the right product is installed in the right way for the right purpose.”