Testing For A Safer Future; an initial industry response

[edit] Testing for a Safer Future original review

In May, 2024, the long-awaited 'Independent Review of the Construction Products Testing Regime- Testing for a Safer Future', led by Paul Morrell and Anneliese Day was published by the DLUHC, with a forward by Dame Judith Hackitt.

The review provided widespread criticism of current systems, including the existing Construction Products Regulations (CPR) which was set-up in 2013, through EU regulations and currently regulates, monitors and enforces UK construction product standards. It highlighted that currently some 20,000-30,000 products currently remain unregulated because there are no appropriate standards, as well as other systemic issues and recommended ways forward.

“The most obvious gap in the current system is that only construction products for which there is a designated standard are covered by the Construction Products Regulation”. The review was primarily instigated, following the Grenfell disaster, to examine the UK’s system for testing the safety of construction products and a key message from P. Morell was "Many standards are outdated, inconsistent or non-existent."

The full original report can be found via this link

[edit] Construction Products Testing Regime initial response

On August 19, 2024 the The Construction Leadership Council’s Standards and Regulatory Alignment Group published an industry response to the Independent Review of the Construction Products Testing Regime - Testing for a Safer Future

The purpose of the original review was to:

• to identify any potential weaknesses in the system and
• to make recommendations for improvement.

The industry response to the original Morrell/Day review analysed the recommendations contained within it and set out which are for industry, which are for Government and which are for all parties to take forward.

It focused on the following areas:

• Existing construction product regulatory landscape;
• Current understanding and guidance;
• Testing methodologies and standards;
• Testing and certification providers; and
• Can technology help?

All interested parties are encouraged to read this initial step in responding to the pioneering report from Paul Morrell and Anneliese Day and we look forward to taking the work forward in due course. The industry response can be found here.

This article is based on the CLC article 'Industry response to the Independent Review of the Construction Products Testing Regime' and the associated publication, dated August 19, 2024.

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