» Essential Safety Measures
» Smoke alarms
» Firefighting equipment
Essential safety measures maintenance
What is an essential safety measure?
An essential safety measure defined under the Building Regulations 2006 include the following:
- Air conditioning systems
- Exit doors
- Early warning systems
- Emergency lifts and lighting
- Emergency lighting
- Emergency power supply
- Emergency warning systems
- Exit signs
- Fire control centres
- Fire curtains and doors
- Fire extinguishers
- Fire detectors and alarm system
- Fire hydrants
- Fire isolated stairs
- Fire rated materials
- Fire windows
- Mechanical ventilation
- Passage ramps
- Path of travel to exits
- Smoke alarms
- Smoke control systems
- Sprinkler systems
Please refer to the Regulations for a full listing of essential safety measures.
What types of buildings are affected?
All buildings other than a house or outbuilding are affected. These include the following Classes as defined in the Building Code of Australia:
| Building Class | Type of building |
| Class 1b | Some boarding houses, guest houses or hostels |
| Class 2 | Buildings containing sole-occupancy unit (e.g. apartments, blocks of flats) |
| Class 3 | Backpacker accommodation, residential parts of hotels or motels, residential parts of schools, accommodation for the aged, disabled or children |
| Class 5 | Offices for professional or commercial purposes |
| Class 6 | Shops or other buildings for sale of goods by retail cafés, restaurants, milk bars, dining rooms, and bars |
| Class 7 | Buildings used for car parks, storage or display of goods |
| Class 8 | Laboratories or buildings for production or assembly of goods |
| Class 9 | Public buildings such as health care buildings or assembly buildings, nightclubs, bars etc. |
What does the law require?
The Regulations require you as the building owner to maintain all safety fittings, equipment and safety features as well as those items listed as essential safety measures.
There are different obligations under the Regulations dependent on when the building was built or when building work occurred on that building. This is dealt with below.
Part 12 of the Regulations contain two divisions, Division 1 addresses maintenance of essential safety measures and Division 2 sets out requirements for the maintenance of swimming pools and spas.
If I am an owner of a building or work directly for an owner, what documentation is required by the Regulations in regards to Essential Safety Measures (Part 12) to ensure that the owner is covered in filling in the Annual Report.
The Regulations require the owner to keep all annual essential safety measures reports, records of maintenance check, service and repair work records on the site for inspection by the Municipal Building Surveyor or Chief Officer.
The Regulations also describes what the annual essential safety measures report should contain and that the owner or agent of the owner is to sign the Annual Report.
The Regulations do not go further than requiring the owner to sign off the Annual Essential Safety Measures Report (AESR) and ensuring that the essential safety measures are maintained. The Regulations do not go to the extent of controlling business practices.
The preparation of logbooks, the signing of log books, the qualifications required for the sign off of log books, the acceptance of compliance letters, there after, becomes an internal issue for your company. As discussed previously, you would have to obtain advice from a building consultant with expertise in this area and or legal advice as to the most appropriate response to these questions to best protect your companies interests.
Smoke alarms
Are smoke alarms compulsory?
Smoke alarms are compulsory and must be installed in residential buildings on or near the ceiling of every storey. The location of smoke alarms should be in accordance with Practice Note 2006-27
What type of smoke alarm should be used?
Smoke alarms must meet the Australian Standard AS 3786-1993 required by the Building Regulations.
In all new residential buildings, constructed on or after 1 August 1997, the smoke alarms must be connected directly to the consumer power mains as well as having a battery back-up.
Residential buildings constructed before 1 August 1997, can be fitted with a battery-powered smoke alarm.
What residential buildings require smoke alarms?
The Building Regulations require self-contained smoke alarms to be installed in all residential buildings including dwellings within buildings of other non-residential use.
The following building Classes as defined in the Building Code of Australia are included:
- Class 1a: Detached house, row house, town house, terrace house or villa unit
- Class 1b: Boarding house, guest house or hostel
- Class 2: Building containing sole-occupancy units (e.g. apartments, block of flats)
- Class 3: Backpackers accommodation, residential part of a hotel or motel, residential part of a school, accommodation for the aged, disabled or children.
- Class 4: A dwelling in a non-residential building (e.g. house attached to a shop).
You should familiarise yourself with the Class of building in which you intend installing your smoke alarm, as this will affect its required location.
If you are renting a dwelling or unit, it is the owner's (landlord's) responsibility to ensure smoke alarms are installed and kept in working condition. However, a tenant can take action to ensure compliance with the Regulations.
Firefighting equipment
What firefighting equipment is required in buildings under construction or renovation?
The BCA, specifically EP1.5 of Part E1 Fire fighting Equipment requires that 'Suitable means of fire-fighting must be installed to allow initial fire attack by construction workers and for the fire brigade to undertake on the fire appropriate to:
- (a) the fire hazard
- (b) the height the building has reached during its construction.
Deemed to Satisfy requirements for buildings under construction are provided in E1.9 which stipulates that:
- Adequate number of fire extinguishers appropriate to various hazards be provided on each level, and
- After the building reaches an effective height of 12 metres that the booster connections must be installed as well as the required number of fire hydrants and hose reels must be made operational on every level except the 2 uppermost storeys.
Building Regualtions state that the consent and report of the Chief Officer must be obtained to an application for a building permit which involves fire safety matters which do not meet the Deemed to Satisfy provisions of the BCA. Fire precautions during construction is one of those matters which needs to be referenced to the Chief Officer for consent, by the owner or owner's representative.
Part 7 of the Building Regulations sets out the mandatory inspections stages of building works. Four specific stages are highlighted which do not identify the construction phase from the point of view of providing and ensuring that fire precautions during construction are installed, operational and maintained.
Nevertheless it should be noted that Part 4 section 35 of the Building Act provides powers to the Relevant Building Surveyor (RBS) to enable inspections to occur at any time whether or not a mandatory stage has been completed. Although the RBS has the legal obligation to ensure that the building permit is properly administered, it is also considered that the RBS has the opportunity to stipulate additional inspections that may be warranted to ensure the installation and functionality of fire precautions.
The Guide to the BCA acknowledges that a fire in a building under construction represents a significant public safety, health and amenity risk and thus there is a need for fire fighting equipment in such buildings. ( BCA EP1.5) It states that the performance requirement recognises the fact that a significant number of fires occur in buildings during the construction phase. It also states that fire spread has occurred in such instances mainly because services have been turned off for construction purposes. This is supported by MFB statistics and Post Incident Analysis Reports following fires.
In terms of other legislation pertaining to duties of persons who manage or control workplaces, and designers of buildings or structures, sections 26 and 28 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 require such persons, so far as reasonably practicable, to design and manage the workplace to be safe. .A building under construction is a workplace for both building contractor workers, and if a fire occurs, for the attending fire fighting crews.
Therefore, it is paramount that Building Developers, Owners and the RBS are vigilant in the administration of the Building Permit process including for the fire precautions requirements stipulated during the construction phase. The failure to do this can expose the public, site personnel and firefighters to unnecessary levels of risk, which contravenes the intent of both the Building Act 1993 and the OH&S Act 2004.
Furthermore, a risk management approach should, ideally, be undertaken whereby risks are identified and hazard mitigation in form of fire precautions are adopted whereby such precautions are re-visited and managed on an ongoing basis to ensure that they are maintained to the level needed to address the fire risk.
Consideration should also be made to increasing the level of fire precautions as the building or structure nears completion and the value of the infrastructure dramatically increases, for example commissioning and activating installed systems such as detection and sprinkler systems. This is mainly due to the fact that as the construction progresses the building itself becomes more enclosed with increased fire load, ignition sources and higher potential of property/asset loss . In saying this, however, fire fighting equipment is only one issue. Other items which indirectly affect the effectiveness of fire safety precautions are adequate escape routes, access points for the Fire Brigade, emergency warning systems, communications, proper training and emergency procedures.
It is critical that responsible persons and authorities, in particular the RBS and Construction Managers increase their awareness and are diligent in the application of the BCA requirements during the construction phase to ensure that the consequences of fires within buildings under construction or renovation are mitigated and safety maximised.
