The concept of a general safety requirement for construction products was introduced through Schedule 11 of the Building Safety Act 2022. This defined a “safe product” as one that “under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions25 of use… (a) the product does not present any risk to the health or safety of persons, or (b) if it does, the risk is as low as it can be compatible with using the product”.

The revised E U -C P R includes an expanded definition of a product presenting a risk as:“...a product that, whenever during its entire life cycle, has an inherent potential to affect adversely the health and safety of persons, the environment or the fulfilment of basic requirements for construction works when incorporated in those works, to a degree which, taking account of the state-of-the-art, goes beyond what is considered reasonable and acceptable in relation to its intended use and its normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use”.

We recognise the value of a consistent definition across all construction products. As such, we propose consistency between the definition of ‘safe’ under the general safety requirement with the concepts used in the definition of ‘a product presenting a risk’ in the revised E U -C P R . This would ensure a consistent approach across the regulation of construction products.