Greenwich council has committed itself to improving the safety of its social housing after it failed to carry out health and safety assessments across thousands of its homes.
The Royal Borough of Greenwich referred itself to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) in May 2022 after identifying a potential failure to meet statutory health and safety requirements in some of its homes.
The regulator said that a failure to carry out health and safety assessments in thousands of homes – including checks for fire, electrical, water and asbestos safety – meant there was ‘potential for serious detriment to tenants.’
The RSH concluded that the council has breached the Home Standard.
Responding to the regulator’s report, a council spokesperson said: ‘We take residents’ safety extremely seriously and are currently rapidly addressing the backlog. We have already completed some of the outstanding actions needed, and residents will have seen work being carried out in their home or estate over the past few months.
‘We have also implemented an action plan to improve our safety work in the long term, with checks in place to make sure we are effective, and will continue to work closely with the Regulator of Social Housing on this issue.’
Kate Dodsworth, director of Consumer Regulation at RSH, said: ‘We welcome the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s self-referral which recognises that the failure to meet health and safety requirements has put tenants at potential risk. We will be monitoring the council closely as they take action to put things right.’
