SKEB and the Building Safety Act: what it means if you install or inspect fire safety

Competence used to be something you were assumed to have if you'd done the job long enough. The Building Safety Act 2022 changed that. Since October 2023, anyone carrying out building work in England has had a legal duty to be competent for the work they do, and whoever appoints them has to take all reasonable steps to check.

What SKEB stands for

• Skills. Being able to do the task, to the standard, in the real conditions of a site.
• Knowledge. Understanding the regulations, standards and products involved, and why they matter.
• Experience. Having done the work, on the kind of building in question, often enough to spot when something isn't right.
• Behaviours. How you work. Following the specification, recording what you did, not cutting corners, and stopping when a job is outside your competence.

The four go together. Someone who knows BS 8214 inside out but has never hung a door isn't competent to install one. Neither is someone who has hung a thousand doors but doesn't know what the test evidence allows.

Who has to show it

The duty applies to the individuals and businesses doing design or building work, installers included, and to the principal designer and principal contractor on a project. For higher-risk buildings, the client has to declare the competence of both when applying for building control approval from the Building Safety Regulator.

In practice, the question arrives before you're on site. Principal contractors, housing providers and facilities managers now ask installers and inspectors for evidence of competence at tender or before work starts. 'We've always done it this way' doesn't answer it.

What training can prove, and what it can't

Training is one piece of the evidence, not all of it. It's worth being clear about which piece.

• An online course helps you evidence knowledge. It shows you've studied the subject and passed an assessment. Nobody has watched you do the work, so it can't evidence skills.
• A practical course evidences knowledge and skills, because a trainer assesses you doing the task in person.
• Experience comes from the work itself. Keep a record of the jobs you've done, on which buildings, with photographs where you can.
• Behaviours show in how you work over time: complete records, honest reporting and sticking to the specification. References and audits help evidence them.

Any training provider that tells you one course makes you competent is overselling it. A course is part of the case you build.

Frameworks you'll hear about

BS 8670 sets core criteria for building safety competence, and PAS 8671 and PAS 8672 cover principal designers and principal contractors. Trade bodies and certification schemes build on them for specific work such as fire door installation, fire stopping and alarm servicing. If a client asks which standard your evidence maps to, it's worth knowing the answer.

Where to start

1. Write down the work you actually do, and the buildings you do it on.
2. Gather what you already have: certificates, job records, photographs and references.
3. Fill the gaps. If you can show skills but not current knowledge, an online course closes that. If a client needs skills evidenced, book a practical course.
4. Keep it current. Standards change, and certificates have dates for a reason.

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This article is a summary for people who work on fire safety in buildings. It isn't legal advice. For the full requirements, read the legislation and official guidance it mentions.