Products critical to safe construction

Construction Products Reform Green Paper, published in February 2025 by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, defines products critical to safe construction as: ‘Products or systems of products where there is a risk of serious harm if something goes wrong.’

The Guide to Products Critical to Safe Construction, published by CIOB Academy in August 2025 states "a product is critical to safe construction when its failure, omission or incorrect installation carries a risk of causing a serious injury or fatality'. The report recommends that products and systems are evaluated, with those which are safety-critical being identified and suggests different methods for doing this with tools such as HAZID evaluations.

It suggests that first step in evaluating products critical to safe construction is to identify which ones serve a safety-critical function, which may require analysing more products than initially expected, particularly when breaking systems down into their individual components. While complete systems are often viewed as safety-critical, they are typically composed of several standalone products, the ability of those products to integrate and function within a system is vital, and the potential consequences of a single product’s failure needs to be considered. Creating a database or list of relevant products, systems, and elements is recommended as it can help to ensure nothing is overlooked.

See also: Safe products.

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