Aimée L Felton 2012

32 maintenance, directly affecting the budget allocated for general maintenance whilst compliance to statutory and sectoral regulations had secured ring- fenced budgets (Dann et al . 2006:p103). A converse argument to the negative implications of budgetary allocations anddependency,is the resulting consistent re-prioritisation of maintenance plans (ibid. 2006:p103) producing a default strategy, effectively inducing non-heritage focused organisations to follow the minimum intervention guidelines.Whilst none of the literature has been able to specifically pin-point the reasons as to why many organisations are unable to appreciate the false economy of deferring maintenance to their buildings, it is clear that the induced chaos and sometimes irreversible damage can occur to the primary fixed assets as a consequential impact of fiscal assurance. Health and safety has also repeatedly occurred as a prime barrier to the effective implementation of minimum intervention maintenance within empirical research and literature. All organisations independent of primary activity have to meet various statutory requirements, ranging from Building Regulations to current Health and Safety at Work Acts. For organisations that have public access primary corporate aim, health and safety becomes the critical factor, rather than the cultural significance of fabric effected. A prime example utilised by Worthing at an unnamed case study (2002:p24) was a set of badly worn stairs. From a cultural significance perspective, these should be retained, yet subsequent to a Health and Safety Assessment, these were highlighted as an area for replacement. The literature discussing health and safety issues identifies the illogical attitude towards the implementation of statutory regulations, and how they are applied to historic fabric without relative thinking and consideration of the consequential impact on any cultural THREE Three•Five Statutory regulations as maintenance drivers Chapter Three - Literature Review Aimee Felton