Guidance

Submit a mandatory occurrence notice and report

Use this service to submit a mandatory occurrence notice and report for higher-risk buildings, including high-rise residential buildings, to the BSR.  

Applies to England

You must a submit a mandatory occurrence notice and report for a safety occurrence in a higher risk building. This also includes high-rise residential buildings.

The notices and reports must be for safety occurrences related to fire spread, fire safety or structural failure that resulted in, or are likely to result in:

  • the death of a significant number of people 
  • serious injury that needs immediate treatment in hospital for a significant number of people 
  • a permanent or irreversible disabling condition to a significant number of people 

Safety occurrences include both: 

  • an incident that has happened  
  • the risk of an incident happening in the future 

You must do this even if the safety occurrence is remedied immediately.  

Read guidance on safety occurrences that must be reported to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) .

Who must submit a mandatory occurrence notice and report 

Submit a mandatory occurrence notice and report if you are, or you are acting for: 

  • an accountable person or principal accountable person 
  • principal contractor or principal designer and construction work has started on the building  

Mandatory occurrence notice 

You must submit a mandatory occurrence notice as soon as you can when a safety occurrence is identified, and before you submit your report. 

We will ask you to tell us: 

  • the high-rise residential building registration reference or the building control application reference  
  • your contact details 
  • the date and time the safety occurrence was identified 
  • a brief description of the safety occurrence 
  • any immediate actions you’ve taken since to keep people safe 

When you submit a mandatory occurrence notice, we will give you a reference number you can use to submit a mandatory occurrence report. 

Mandatory occurrence report 

You must submit a mandatory occurrence report after submitting your notice and within 10 calendar days of identifying the safety occurrence. 

We will ask you to tell us: 

  • your mandatory occurrence notice reference 
  • who submitted the notice – if someone else submitted the notice, we will need your contact details  
  • the type of safety occurrence you are reporting  
  • what happened or has the potential of happening 
  • what caused the safety occurrence and how it was discovered  
  • who is involved and the effect or potential effect on them 
  • what you have done and plan to do to keep people safe 
  • anything you think should be shared for others to learn from   
  • any supporting information, such as documents, videos, or photos 

Get help using this service

Telephone: 0300 790 6787 

Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm (except Wednesdays when we are open from 10am to 5pm, and public holidays when we are closed). 

If you would prefer to speak to us on the phone in a language other than English, a translation service is available. 

Find out about call charges.

Start now

Updates to this page

Published 31 January 2024

Sign up for emails or print this page