The Building Safety Act has a lot of new terms and these are often abbreviated. Below is some useful information on some of the more common abbreviations.
What is an HRB?
HRB stands for Higher Risk Building. These are buildings that are over 18m or have 7 or more storeys.
What is the BSA?
The BSA refers to The Building Safety Act 2022, a piece of legislation brought in following the tragic events at Grenfell. Its aim is to make buildings safer.
What is the BSR?
The Building Safety Regulator is part of the HSE and is responsible for the regulation of HRBs, raising safety standards and is also the building control authority for HRBs.
Who is the PAP?
PAP stands for Principal Accountable Person. If there is only one Accountable Person then they are also the PAP. The PAP is usually a company or organisation, rather than an individual, and could be the RTM Company, RMC, the Freeholder or a Headlessee of a block of flats.
The PAP is legally responsible for managing the fire and structural safety in their block. They also need to engage with residents.
AP is Accountable Person and there may be more than one AP though there is only one PAP.
What is a RES?
The Resident Engagement Strategy is a document that sets out how and when the PAP will engage and consult with residents on fire and structural safety matters. As part of this it is expected the PAP will need to understand the resident profile in their block so it is likely you will be asked to fill in a survey. Certain information needs to be provided by the PAP to all residents over the age of 16 so all residents over 16 should complete the survey.
If you have been provided a password to MyHRB then you will be able to access that information on this website from your building’s specific webpage.
The RES also provides details of the PAP’s complaints procedure as well as details of how to escalate complaints to the BSR.
What is a MOR?
A Mandatory Occurrence Reporting system needs to be in place for all HRBs and involves ensuring certain building safety incidents are reported directly to the BSR.
If you have been provided a login to MyHRB then you will be able to report an incident on this website.
What is a BAC?
A Building Assessment Certificate is a document that the BSR will issue for a building if they feel that the fire and structural safety of that building is managed and mitigated sufficiently. It will be issued following submission of a satisfactory Building Safety Case report (which includes the RES and MOR) to the BSR. Each HRB will be called to apply for their BAC over the next five years.
Other common abbreviations
HSE – Health & Safety Executive
FRA – Fire Risk Assessment
LFB – London Fire Brigade
FRS – Fire and Rescue Service
My HRB 