BSI Flex 8670 v2.0 Building Safety Competence of Individuals (2021)

The IET has responded to a consultation on the draft BSI Flex 8670 v2.0, which aims to provide an overall framework for the competence of individuals in the Built Environment.  The Flex has been sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. 

Recent building failures in the UK have highlighted the need for improved building safety competence. Such incidents include the tragic Grenfell Tower fire and the subsequent exposure of systemic fire safety problems in many other buildings.

The Flex is being produced in response to recommendations in Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety.  Her reports identified serious shortfalls in the competence of individuals involved in the delivery of high-risk buildings.

This Flex will complement existing training, development and competence frameworks for individuals. Existing frameworks and qualification pathways will still be needed to reflect the full range of competencies for particular-roles or disciplines.

The Flex aims to:

• drive consistent good practice in the development and use of competence testing across the Built Environment.
• enable consistent and objective assessment of sector-specific competence frameworks against common criteria by regulators, clients and employers.
• enable requirements to be set for behavioural competence and building safety to drive improvements throughout the industry.

Whilst broadly in favour of these aims, the IET stresses the importance of driving up individual competence through impartial assessment and mandatory professional registration, via a transparent and independently auditable process. This mandatory process needs enshrining in the Flex to ensure safety and quality delivery are put ahead of profit.

The IET also emphasizes the importance of having competent electricians carrying out work. This would be done by making the role of ‘electrician’ a protected term, enforced up by professional registration. Otherwise the Flex and supporting frameworks may be undermined, and attempts to improve the Built Environment culture would be less successful.