How BSA Radar helps main contractors check their compliance with the Building Safety Act

The Building Safety Act has changed the way main contractors must approach supply chain due diligence. As a principal contractor, you are now legally required to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to make sure every subcontractor, across every tier, meets building safety competence requirements. That is a significant shift, and it carries real legal weight.  

The urgency is clear: 17 of the UK’s leading main contractors signed an open letter requiring their supply chains to meet building safety competence standards, with a simple message that building safety act compliance is no longer optional, and the industry expects you to evidence it. 

So as a main contractor how do you check, monitor and prove the building safety compliance of a complex, multi-tier construction supply chain without drowning in paperwork? 

In this blog, we’ll cover: 

• The Building Safety Act: a quick refresher  
• What main contractors need to know about their duties in line with the legislation 
• The consequences of not aligning their supply chain to the Building Safety Act 
• How Once For All’s BSA Radar gives you a one-click view of your supply chain compliance 

 

A quick reminder: What is the Building Safety Act?

The Building Safety Act 2022 introduced some of the most significant reforms to building safety standards that the UK construction has seen in decades. It received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022, with secondary legislation coming into force on 1 October 2023. 

The Building Safety Act was introduced in direct response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy and Dame Judith Hackitt’s ‘Building a Safer Future’ review. Its purpose is to drive up standards of quality and safety, and to make sure the people working on buildings have the right skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours. 

Does the Building Safety Act only apply to higher-risk buildings? 

This is one of the most common misconceptions. The Building Safety Act regulations apply to all building work, not just higher-risk buildings. The Act simply places additional requirements on higher-risk projects. 

A higher-risk building in England is defined as one that is: 

• At least 18 metres in height, and 
• At least 7 storeys high, and 
• Containing at least two residential units (including hospitals, care homes and student accommodation). 

Hotels, prisons and military accommodation are not classed as higher-risk buildings. The key point for main contractors: even standard construction work falls within scope, so your due diligence needs to cover your whole supply chain. 

 

What Construction Main Contractors need to know about the Building Safety Act 

As a principal contractor, you sit at the centre of building safety act compliance. Under the secondary legislation, you take ultimate responsibility for the construction phase and the competence of your entire supply chain. 

Your principal contractor duties 

The principal contractor duties stem largely from the competence regulations introduced into the Building Regulations 2010. In practice, this means: 

• Verifying competence (regulation 11F): Take ‘all reasonable steps’ to confirm subcontractors have the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours needed for the work. 
• Organisational capability (regulation 11H): Ensure capability is in place across every tier of the supply chain, not just your direct appointments. 
• Checking serious sanctions: Establish whether any firm has been subject to a serious sanction in the five years before appointment. 

 

 

Why multi-tier responsibility matters 

Compliance obligations cascade down through every subcontracting tier. If you subcontract work to a company that cannot meet the Act’s standards, the responsibility ultimately rests with you. That makes thorough supply chain due diligence essential, not just for your direct partners but for the firms they appoint too. 

Record keeping is equally important. You need to be able to evidence that you took reasonable steps, because in the event of a dispute or enforcement action, an audit trail is your best protection. 

 

 

The consequences of non-compliance 

The risks of failing to meet the Building Safety Act regulations are serious, and they extend well beyond a financial penalty. 

The consequences include: 

• Fines, custodial sentences and potential imprisonment for the most serious failings. 
• Enforcement notices and project delays that disrupt timelines and budgets. 
• Civil or criminal action where competence cannot be evidenced. 
• Lasting reputational damage that affects your ability to win future work. 

The buck stops with the principal contractor. If you cannot evidence that you took reasonable steps to verify competence, you carry the liability. 

Compliance gaps are more common than you might expect. For example, some suppliers do not have something as basic as a whistleblowing policy. When gaps like this exist deep in your supply chain, you need a fast way to spot them before they become your problem. 

Enter BSA Radar. 

 

BSA Radar: a smarter way to stay on top of your Building Safety Act compliance 

BSA Radar is a construction compliance monitoring tool that gives main contractors a one-click view of their supply chain’s compliance against the sentiment of the Building Safety Act. 

Instead of manually reviewing every supplier’s credentials one by one, BSA Radar surfaces areas of non-compliance and tells you exactly why a supplier has been flagged. Save significant time and resource checking individual supplier credentials, and gain confidence that nothing has slipped through the cracks. 

The tool tracks 14 million data points to deliver actionable, real-time insights into your projects and your wider supply chain. It is available to all Constructionline Buyer members, so you can monitor supplier compliance at project level or across your entire supply chain from a single dashboard. 

The result is straightforward: a high-risk, time-consuming task becomes a fast, fact-based overview you can act on immediately. 

 

How does BSA Radar work? 

BSA Radar turns complex compliance data into clear, visual insight.: 

• Identify eligible suppliers: See which subcontractors hold a Verified Constructionline Gold or Platinum membership, which both align to the Common Assessment Standard (CAS) 
• Check compliance status: Of the eligible subcontractors, instantly see which are BSA ‘compliant’ and which are not, and have answered the industry standard Building Safety questions of the Common Assessment Standard 
• Drill down into detail: For non-compliant suppliers, explore individual question areas covering financials, training information, fire and structural safety policies, infractions and key organisational behaviours 
• Flag serious sanctions: BSA Radar scrapes public data sources, so even unlisted sanctions are identified, allowing you to investigate and mitigate risk early 

The dashboard-led design makes insights easy to interpret. Clear visualisations and status overviews help you draw out what matters, prioritise action, and base supplier decisions on assured competence rather than guesswork. 

 

What are our BSA Assessments? 

Suppliers can also go above and beyond the Common Assessment Standard with Constructionline’s BSA Assessments. BSA Radar scans which suppliers have completed the assessments, showing clear dashboards to help you make the decision of which qualified suppliers to work with. 

BSA Assessments can be completed optionally by Gold and Platinum suppliers at no extra cost, and cover two areas: 

• Standard Construction Assessment: recommended for any business working on construction projects. 
• Higher-Risk Buildings Assessment: for those working on higher-risk building projects. 

The assessments are aligned to BSA standards, including BS 8670-1:2024, the British Standard that sets out core criteria for building safety competence. Importantly, they were developed with industry, for industry, built in partnership with leading main contractors and the Joint Competence Initiative for the Building Envelopes Sector (JCI). 

Because suppliers complete these assessments, BSA Radar can instantly show you who has done their due diligence and who hasn’t.  

 

 

Next steps: take control of your supply chain compliance with the Building Safety Act

Building safety act compliance is now a core responsibility for every principal contractor, and the cost of getting it wrong is high. BSA Radar transforms a time-consuming, high-risk task into a fast, one-click overview of your supply chain’s compliance, backed by 14 million data points and the rigour of BSA Assessments. 

It’s time to turn the Act into action. 

Book a Demo and see BSA Radar in action. 

 

Key takeaways 

• The Building Safety Act 2022 applies to all building work, not just higher-risk buildings, and places ultimate responsibility for supply chain competence on the principal contractor. 
• Main contractors must take ‘all reasonable steps’ to verify subcontractor competence and check for serious sanctions across every tier of the supply chain. 
• Non-compliance carries serious consequences, including fines, imprisonment, reputational damage and the inability to tender for work. 
• BSA Radar delivers a one-click view of compliance, tracking 14 million data points to surface non-compliance and flag serious sanctions. 
• Working alongside BSA Assessments, BSA Radar helps you evidence due diligence quickly and confidently. 

 

FAQs 

What is BSA Radar? 

BSA Radar is a compliance monitoring tool available to Constructionline Buyer members. It gives main contractors a one-click overview of their supply chain’s compliance against the demands of the Building Safety Act. 

Who can use BSA Radar? 

BSA Radar is available to all those with a Constructionline Buyer membership. 

Does the Building Safety Act only apply to higher-risk buildings? 

No. This is a common misconception. The Building Safety Act regulations apply to all building work, with additional requirements placed on higher-risk buildings. 

How does BSA Radar identify serious sanctions? 

BSA Radar scrapes public data sources, so serious sanctions are flagged even if a supplier hasn’t listed them on their profile. This helps you investigate and mitigate risk before it becomes an issue. 

How do I get started with BSA Radar? 

Book a free demo to see BSA Radar in action, and explore our free BSA guidance hub for further support on meeting your principal contractor duties.