How the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) is used

By law, Bradford Council uses the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) to help remove or reduce the risk from hazards to health and safety.

When an officer from Bradford Council’s Housing Standards Team inspects a property, they will look for any defects and deficiencies which may pose a hazard to someone. The officer will then calculate a score for each hazard. The score depends on how serious the hazard is and how likely it is to cause injury. 

When the officer is assessing the severity and likelihood of an injury they must consider this as if it applies to the type of person who is most vulnerable to the particular hazard. For example,

• when assessing the hazard relating to stairs, the officer will consider how this would affect an old person because stairs constitute a greater risk to the elderly,
• when assessing the hazard of excess cold, the officer will consider how this would affect the elderly and very young people because they are at greater risk from cold.

The scores are divided into 10 hazard bands, A to J - Band A is the most serious and Band J the least serious. A hazard which falls into Bands A to C is termed a ‘Category 1’ hazard while a hazard in bands D to F is a ‘Category 2’ hazard. By law, the Council must take enforcement action to deal with Category 1 hazards, and may take enforcement action to deal with Category 2 hazards if this is appropriate.