Top 5 Risks Of Free SFG20 PDF Downloads

If you’re searching for free SFG20 PDF downloads to source and share building maintenance content, you are opening your organisation up to several serious risks.  

You can trust SFG20, the industry standard for building maintenance, when we say that it’s simply not worth it.  

Here are the top 5 ways organisations are putting themselves at risk by using free PDF copies of SFG20 found on the internet.  

Non-Compliance Through Out-Of-Date Information 

The SFG20 standard is licensed content that is updated each month by our highly accredited team of in-house technical authors to reflect the latest legislation, regulations and codes of practice.    

The terms of the license do not permit the sharing or distribution of SFG20 content publicly and the use of any unlicensed content downloaded from the internet is not permitted.  

This is for a number of reasons including that as paper PDFs reflect a snapshot in time, they can quickly become out of date with inaccurate information not aligned with the latest legislative or best practice requirements.  

Ultimately, one of the long-term ramifications of this is non-compliance with the latest SFG20 standard, which may expose your organisation to risks such as hefty fines and even prison time.   

Consider the consequences if you end up the subject of an internal enquiry or even have to appear in court, and how far holding up an out-of-date, unauthorized copy of a SFG20 maintenance schedule will get you. You could lose your job, career or worse. 

Loss Of Audit Trails 

As PDFs are static documents, there’s no way of tracking whether any changes have been made, by whom and why, which can make auditing your records impossible. Very quickly, this can lead to disorganisation and make it hard to maintain accountability across your team.  

This means that free SFG20 PDFs found on the internet are 100% NOT suitable for any building that falls within scope of the BSA and is required to keep a Golden Thread of information (or for any building for that matter).  

Loss Of Time 

If PDFs are currently your chosen way of sharing content, this can be challenging as it can take up a lot of your time. It means that the responsibility is on you to ensure that you’re circulating the most up-to-date version of the SFG20 standard with your team at all times. 

Hinders Collaboration 

PDFs are fixed documents that can’t be updated and shared when the standard changes. This can be a huge roadblock for real-time collaboration, consuming both your team’s time and energy which could be used elsewhere. 

Sustainability Considerations  

Many organisations are now looking for ways to improve their sustainability and lessen their environmental impact.

However, if you’re still printing out PDFs and using an excessive amount of paper, this can not only rack up costs but also significantly increase your carbon footprint. 

Never Risk Non-Compliance 

To summarise, SFG20 PDFs downloaded from the internet are a HUGE no-no.  

Just like most “free” things on the web, if you happen to find a “free downloadable SFG20 PDF”, just remember that it’ll likely be too good to be true i.e. not up to date with the latest legislation and therefore no longer compliant.  

However, there is one exception when it comes to free downloads - and that’s our expert-backed, up-to-date E-guides which cover pressing topics in the facility management industry.  

Crush your compliance goals with our Building Safety Act (BSA) Checklist e-guide, loaded with essential information to support building owners and maintenance professionals.