Question: As a committee member in a medium-sized building in Sydney, what does my committee need to know about the upcoming reforms in 2023 to the fire safety legislation for apartments? What has changed and when do the changes begin?
Answer: Reforms have been introduced to fire safety regulations to improve compliance with requirements for the design, certification and maintenance of installed fire safety measures in buildings.
Reforms have been introduced to fire safety regulations to improve compliance with requirements for the design, certification and maintenance of installed fire safety measures in buildings through:
- Increasing the involvement of Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) in reviewing non-standard fire safety design proposals.
- Creating an independent checker role to assess newly installed fire safety measures before buildings are occupied.
- Improving documentation of fire safety measures by standardising documentation and simplifying amendment processes; and
- Mandating the procedures for the maintenance of fire safety measures.
The key changes affect building owners from 13 February 2023
For class 2 building work (multi story residential buildings), owners must provide a copy of the fire safety certificate to the building practitioner issuing a building compliance declaration under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020.
Building owners will now be able to request corrections of minor errors in fire safety schedules or a replacement if the schedule is lost or destroyed.
From 1 August 2023
Owners must ensure that a person who develops a non-standard fire safety design proposal in all types of buildings except single dwellings and certain types of boarding houses, guest houses or similar, consults with FRNSW if a construction certificate is required for the building work.
- From 13 February 2025 (or 18 months after an accreditation scheme is approved, whichever occurs first),
- Owners must use an accredited technician to certify newly installed fire safety measures before issuing a fire safety certificate.
This must include relevant information about that accredited person in the fire safety certificate.
- Owners must maintain essential fire safety measures in all types of buildings except single dwellings in accordance with procedures in the Australian Standard 1851-2012 Routine service of fire protection systems and equipment, where the maintenance activity is addressed by the standard.
You can find out more about the changes and how they affect you and your owners corporation here: Reforms to fire safety regulation 2022
This post appears in the July 2023 edition of The NSW Strata Magazine.
Heath Newell Chief AFSS Services E: heath@chiefmechanicalservices.com P: 0405 932 458