The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) inspection is designed to assess potential hazards within a property that may affect the health, safety, and well-being of occupants.

This inspection type uses a fixed, non-editable template aligned with HHSRS Operating Guidance Housing Act 2004.

Overview

The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) inspection allows structured assessment of housing hazards using the HHSRS Version 2 framework.

This inspection type:

Uses a fixed, non-editable template
Follows the HHSRS V2 scoring structure
Produces a standardised web report
Supports hazard likelihood and outcome scoring
Automatically calculates hazard ratings and bands

Important Information

HHSRS is primarily used by Environmental Health Officers (EHOs).
This inspection follows HHSRS Version 2.
The template is fixed and cannot be customised.
Only one HHSRS template is available.
The inspection is delivered primarily as a Web Report.
A downloadable PDF version is also available.

❗Important: Inventory Base provides the digital template, reporting structure, and scoring logic for HHSRS inspections. It is the responsibility of the inspector to ensure they are appropriately trained, competent, and qualified to carry out HHSRS assessments in accordance with the relevant Operating Guidance and UK legislation.

Enabling HHSRS on Your Account

You must contact your Account Manager to enable HHSRS on your account.

Once enabled:

The HHSRS inspection type will appear in your list of Inspection Types.
No template setup is required.
The correct HHSRS template is automatically applied.

Creating an HHSRS Inspection

Create a new inspection.
Select Housing Health And Safety Rating System as the inspection type.
The bespoke HHSRS template will automatically apply.
Complete the required sections.
The HHSRS template should not be changed once the inspection is created.

⚠️ You should not change templates for this inspection type.

HHSRS Report Breakdown

1. Property Details (Mandatory)

Before scoring can occur, property details must be completed.

This includes:

Property type (e.g., house, flat, HMO, non-HMO)
Construction period (banded by year ranges)
Background notes

⚠️ The hazard score cannot be calculated without this section completed.

2. Hazard Identification

For each hazard:

Up to three locations can be recorded (A, B, C).
A description of the hazard is required.
Related hazards may be selected.
Photos may be added (typically 1–2 per hazard).

ℹ️ Images should illustrate the presence of the hazard — not necessarily diagnose the cause.

There is no fixed image limit, but large volumes of photos may not display optimally in the report.

3. Relevant Matters (Hazard Factors)

Each hazard includes specific criteria relating to:

Contributing factors
Environmental influences
Structural considerations

Key of Severity

When completing the Relevant Matters section, severity indicators are shown using colour coding:

🔴 Seriously Defective

🟠 Defective

🟡 Not Satisfactory

🟢 Satisfactory

ℹ️ The severity colours do not appear in the final report output. They are provided as a visual aid during completion only.

4. Scoring the Hazard

This is the core of the HHSRS inspection.

Component	Entered by Inspector?	What It Represents
Likelihood	Yes	The probability of the hazard causing harm.
Outcome Class I	Yes	Most severe potential outcome (e.g., death or permanent injury).
Outcome Class II	Yes	Serious injury requiring medical attention.
Outcome Class III	Yes	Moderate injury.
Outcome Class IV	No (Auto-calculated)	100 – (Class I + II + III)
Final Hazard Rating	Auto-generated	Overall risk score and band (A–J).

How Scoring Works

The red values represent the inspector’s selected inputs.
Class IV is automatically calculated.
The final hazard rating is generated from these values.

Ratings:

Ratings in bands A–C are a Category 1 hazard.
Ratings in bands D–J are Category 2 hazard.

⚠️ The system displays national average likelihood and outcome values for reference.

These values:

Are for guidance (see HHSRS Operating Guidance)
Help inform professional judgement
Do not override site-specific assessment

Inspectors should justify any deviation from averages within their report comments / justifications.

5. National Averages

The system displays national average likelihood and harm outcome values derived from HHSRS Operating Guidance data. These values are provided as reference points only.

Inspectors should:

Use averages to inform professional judgement
Assess the specific conditions observed at the property
Record justification where their scoring differs materially from national averages

National averages do not override site-specific assessment.

6. Improvement Rating (Optional)

Inspectors may complete an optional Improvement Rating section. This allows Inspectors to estimate the expected hazard rating if deficiencies were fully remedied.

If selected:

A new calculated rating is displayed.
This section can be hidden from the report if not required.

⚠️ A follow-up inspection should always be created separately if reassessment is required.

Final Report Output

The HHSRS Risk Assessment report differs from standard inspection outputs. The layout follows the HHSRS Operating Guidance output structure.

What the Report Does (and Does Not Do)

The HHSRS report:

✔ Captures the presence of hazards
✔ Provides a hazard rating band + score
✔ Assesses risk against vulnerable groups

The report does not:

✖ Automatically generate actions
✖ Diagnose the root cause of issues
✖ Export scoring data as custom fields

💡 It serves as an assessment tool for determining whether further investigation or remediation is required.

Each hazard produces a structured, two-page output including:

Hazard description
Location details
Relevant matters
Scoring breakdown
Final hazard rating
Optional improvement rating

Technical Notes

Report Settings

Standard report settings such as cover pages, signatures, notes, and disclaimers can be configured.
Template structure cannot be modified.
Photo layout and action layout settings do not apply.

Attachments & Images

Images can be added per hazard.
Attachments per item are not supported.
Large volumes of images may not display optimally.

System Behaviour

Reports are larger than standard inspections and may take slightly longer to load.
Scoring calculations are powered by built-in conditional logic.
Only hazards completed in the inspection will appear in the final report.
Scoring data is not currently exportable as custom fields.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I customise the template?

No. The template is fixed and aligned to HHSRS Version 2.

Can I add more than three hazard locations?

Currently limited to A, B, and C.

Can I extract scoring data via CSV?

Not currently.

Do I need to re-open the same inspection after improvements?

No. A new HHSRS inspection should be created.