The Building Safety Act 2022 introduced Mandatory Occurrence Reporting (MOR), a duty on those responsible for higher risk buildings (HRBs) to report serious safety concerns before they can cause harm. It applies even when a problem has already been fixed and the point is to catch patterns and risks early, not just deal with the aftermath.

Who carries that duty depends on what stage a building is at. During construction, it sits with the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor. Once residents have moved in, it passes to the Principal Accountable Person (PAP) and Accountable Persons (APs), who must keep it running for the life of the building.

The regime only applies to HRBs in England: buildings of 18 metres or seven storeys or more, with at least two residential units.

Two things trigger a report: structural failure and fire or smoke spread. In both cases, it’s not just about incidents that have already happened. A newly discovered risk that could cause serious harm in future has to be reported too.

On the structural side, that means anything from a partial collapse to defective building work, or the discovery that construction materials are degrading in a way that affects load bearing capacity. On the fire side, it covers failures in compartmentation between flats or floors, sprinkler and foam systems not working as designed, faulty risers, smoke vents that don’t open and fire doors, seals or fire safety products that fail to perform as specified.

The PAP has to set up a system that makes it easy for residents and others to flag these issues to the Accountable Persons in the first place. Reporting only works if people know how to do it.

The process itself is tightly timed. An initial notice has to go to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) as soon as possible after the event or discovery, with a full report following within 10 calendar days. Everything then needs recording in the Building Safety Case Report and the Golden Thread, including whatever’s done afterwards to fix the problem.

The scale of oversight depends on the building. Anything above 11 metres needs to be registered, with Accountable Persons actively assessing structural risk. Buildings over 18 metres or seven storeys go a step further and need a full Building Safety Case.

In our experience, the Regulator doesn’t just file these reports away. It tends to come back with questions, on interim safety measures, on the wider programme of remediation works, and often on the Gateway 2 Building Control application where long term fixes are needed. Beyond that, follow up is usually fairly light touch, though we have seen enforcement action taken against a PAP or AP where things have been more serious.

Failing to report is a criminal offence, not just a compliance slip. It can mean prosecution of the duty holder, unlimited fines under the Building Act 1984 and, for more serious breaches, up to two years in prison. The BSR also has separate powers if Accountable Persons more generally fail to manage building safety risks: it can issue a Compliance Notice, or an Urgent Action Notice where the danger is imminent and prosecute anyone who ignores either. In the most serious cases, that can extend to individual directors or senior managers, not just the organisation.

A good MOR policy isn’t just there to keep the Regulator happy. It’s evidence that safety risks are being taken seriously, it keeps the Golden Thread intact and it genuinely reduces the chance of something going wrong for residents. There’s also a wider benefit: the more buildings report consistently, the more the Regulator can spot recurring defects and emerging risks across the sector and feed that learning back into how buildings are designed, built and managed.

If you’d like help setting up or reviewing your MOR policy, or just want to talk through what it means for your buildings, get in touch with:

Amy Farr, Head of Building Safety & Construction Compliance
+44 (0)7739 990629 |  amy.farr@workman.co.uk.