Meaningful Data Collection Saves Lives

An Urgent Warning and One Question Nobody Could Answer

An urgent safety warning was issued earlier this week regarding several gas cookers sold around the UK with potentially deadly carbon monoxide dangers.

A recent inquest heard that five people had died after using certain gas cookers, with another 13 deaths linked and fears that large numbers are still in use.

For any landlord reading that warning, one question mattered above every other: which of our homes have one of these appliances in them?

1,153 Addresses in Minutes

Upon finding out the serial numbers, TCW ran a report on the data stored within its software and identified 1,153 addresses in the UK with similar or exact serial numbers.

All clients were notified to ensure appliances at these addresses could be checked.

The list existed because the information had already been collected, structured and made searchable — not because anyone had to go and look for it.

Why TCW Was Built

TCW began with a pain-point within social housing: an idea born of a real-life problem, and a thought that there just had to be another way.

Utilising all data continued in compliance certificates, and increasing visibility of stock and quality through a searchable database, provides duty holders assurance that they are minimising risk and maximising safety.

Beyond a Tick in the Compliance Box

“Certificates are not filled out for fun – data integrity and meaningful data collection increases safety,” Ryan said. “We have a responsibility to our clients, and their tenants, to ensure we do the best we can and go beyond just a tick in the ‘compliance box’.”

That distinction — between paperwork that has been filed and information that can be used — is the difference between being compliant and being safe.

New Year, New Ways of Working

As we head into a new year, the most significant and fundamental changes to building safety legislation in decades must bring new ways of working, improving workflow to achieve the targets set and improve safety.

We must utilise innovative technology, changing behaviour and mindset.

The coroner who heard the cooker deaths case went further, reporting that there is no national or central database of gas appliances in UK homes that would allow dangerous items to be identified and traced quickly. In TCW's clients' certificates, that information was already there.

What TCW Checks

TCW is an innovative technology company that has developed a unique solution to a very real problem within asset management for a number of sectors.

Primarily operating within social housing, TCW has enabled duty holders to gain assurance that their compliance documents have been analysed, stored and checked to regulatory obligations.

With the variety of different certification software providers out there, TCW is able to analyse any PDF format.

Going above and beyond the industry standard of a small percentage check, TCW enables 100% of the data within 100% of documents to be checked and analysed, highlighting safety issues that can only be ascertained after performing calculations and aggregations of various data fields.

A Document Is Not a Check

The existence of a document does not indicate the safety of the installation.

TCW gives not only compliance but assurance to its clients, to enable increases in safety standards.