You can outsource the work. You cannot outsource the duty.
Two people, one building, and neither of them can prove it is compliant.
The first is the owner. He has a good FM contractor on a three year contract. Gas, electrical, fire, lifts, water, all in scope. He signs off a monthly report that says 100% complete and, if you asked him, he would tell you compliance is the FM's job. That is what he is paying for.
The second is the FM's contracts manager. Her engineers did every one of those jobs. The certificates are filed in her company's system, the CAFM shows every task closed on time, and she is proud of it. If you asked her, she would tell you the owner can see all of it. He has the monthly report.
Then the contract changes hands, or an inspector arrives, or something goes wrong in the plant room, and both of them discover the same thing. The owner cannot lay hands on the evidence. The FM cannot show the owner ever had it. Great work, done properly, that neither side can prove.
The bit the owner has wrong
The law does not let you delegate a duty. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, the Fire (Scotland) Act, the Fire Safety Order in England, the gas safety regulations and the lifting equipment regulations, the responsibility sits with the owner, occupier or dutyholder, and it stays there whoever is holding the spanner. What you can hand to a contractor is the work. What you cannot hand over is the obligation to make sure the work was done, by someone competent, and to hold the proof. HSE's own guidance on managing contractors says so in plain terms.
When the regulator asks, "the FM had it" is a description of the problem, not a defence.
The bit the FM has wrong
The monthly report is not evidence. A line that says "boiler service, complete" proves that a task was closed, not that the flue gas analysis was done, by a Gas Safe engineer, on that appliance, on that date. The certificate that proves it is sitting in the FM's system, where the owner cannot see it and where it will stay when the contract ends.
The FM has built a perfect record of their own performance and left the owner with nothing they can stand behind. Not through any fault. That is simply how the tools are built: the CAFM belongs to the contractor, so the evidence does too.
What good looks like
The record should belong to the building, not to whoever is looking after it this year.
- Every statutory duty is attached to the specific asset it applies to, under the law that applies where the building stands.
- The engineer proves the visit at the point of work, a tap of the tag on the boiler, the board, the lift, and the certificate is captured there and then.
- Owner and FM look at the same evidence, in real time, with nothing to reconcile.
- When the contractor changes, the history stays. The new FM inherits the asset and its proof on day one.
That is what Samtap is. For the owner it means the duty is discharged with evidence they can put in front of anyone. For the FM it means the work they already do becomes visible, defensible and, for once, something the client can see the value of. It is a service the FM brings to the client, not a system the client uses to police the FM.
The law in one box (if you want the detail)
Duty stays with the owner or dutyholder: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (sections 2 to 4); Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 Part 3 and Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (dutyholder and responsible person); Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (landlord duty); LOLER 1998 (employer or owner to ensure thorough examination); Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (dutyholder for the premises).
Contractors carry their own duties too: HSWA section 3 and competence requirements, which is why "who did the work" is part of the evidence.
Guidance: HSE, Using contractors: a brief guide (INDG368) and Managing contractors (HSG159).
General information, not legal advice. Every obligation in the Samtap catalogue cites the instrument itself.
Are you an FM who wants your clients to see the work? Or an owner who wants to know what you are actually holding? Request a Golden Thread sample report for one asset at samtap.uk.