VIC: Q&A Stairwells, Fire Doors and Safety

VIC lot owners are curious about stairwells, fire doors and safety in strata buildings.

Table of Contents:

• QUESTION: A gas main outlet in our strata scheme is placed well inside half a meter from both a building and a visitor car space. The OC will not take action even though the gas main has already been backed into. Who is responsible for rectifying this dangerous situation?
• QUESTION: Is the body corporate responsible for smoke detector compliance certificates if the smoke alarms are hard-wired to the building?
• QUESTION: Which Act, Regulation or Code in Victoria specifies that a fire door must be kept closed except for normal ingress/egress?
• QUESTION: Our fire door closer has started to leak. The fitting is on the inside, connected to the front door of the apartment. The fitting would only be 3 or so years old. Should this be covered under warranty, and is this the responsibility of the Owners Corporation or the lot owner?
• QUESTION: We have a fire door that connects the communal laundry to a common property corridor. Does this fire door need to remain closed at all times?
• QUESTION: What is the policy in relation to fire safety and stairwell doors onto common areas such as the car park?

Question: A gas main outlet in our strata scheme is placed well inside half a meter from both a building and a visitor car space. The OC will not take action even though the gas main has already been backed into. Who is responsible for rectifying this dangerous situation?

A gas main outlet placed well less than half a meter from both a building and a visitor car space in our strata scheme. Laws require the placement of a gas meter to be at least 1 meter from a parking bay.

The gas main is largely covered by a plant with a 30cm black pole/bollard so it is not clearly visible. It is also well below drivers visibility.

The drive width is at the minimum requirement and turning is extremely tight. Recently, a van backed into the gas main and it burst. The issue was attended by the Fire Dept, Police and eventually gas people to repair. We were unable to enter the property for some time due to gas fumes.

The owners corporation have been notified and a renter requested that a full sized yellow bollard be placed at all illegal gas main points in the complex or that the gas main be moved. The Committee refuses to take any action and blames the local Council for passing the installation when villas were built.

The first pod of villas is mainly owner occupier and bollards are in place in the associated visitors car bay. The owners corporation has not returned calls. What action can be taken?

Answer: The owners corporation is required to ensure adequate protection of the meter and that any breaches of regulatory breaches of the meter site are remedied.

Installer/Council Liability:

Prior to the installation (particularly installation of gas meters in potentially dangerous locations) the appropriate compliance certificates and applications for acceptance should be satisfied. The location of the gas main/meter in these circumstances does not appear to be compliant with several Australian Building Standards, as well as the Gas Safety Act. This non-compliance could potentially render the people who installed the gas meter in the first place liable to breaches of the relevant codes and legislation.

It has been assumed the original installer of the gas meter has attained all the appropriate approvals, demonstrated compliance with the regulations and changes to the area surrounding have occurred post meter installation this option hasn’t been explored further. However, if this is not the case and the gas meter/s on the property have been incorrectly installed/approved, then this may be worthwhile to look at further to see if action may be brought against the parties who installed the meter. If there are no problems on the installers end, the owners corporation of the building will be responsible for the gas meter.

Gas Meter Requirements:

If a gas meter is in an area where it could be exposed to damage (i.e., vehicle impact, corrosion, or weather impact) suitable protection depending on the circumstances should be provided or the gas meter should be moved to a more suitable location by the provider.

The gas main is currently covered by a plant and a black bollard. The bollard will need to be modified so that it meets the requirements of the relevant safety standards. Further, the plant coverage may need to be removed as it could potentially be causing access, visibility and other obstruction issues regarding gas meters, and its roots could potentially expose the site to underground pipe damage.

Owners Corporation Responsibility:

As the gas main is in a common area, failure by the owners corporation to resolve the issues regarding the gas meter and to facilitate the adequate protection would see a failure to maintain legislated obligations and action may be taken by the owners within the premises.

It is the owners corporation’s responsibility to ensure the upkeep and maintenance of common property and areas. This responsibility will extend to the site of the gas meter in question. The owners corporation is therefore required to ensure adequate protection of the meter and that any breaches of regulatory breaches of the meter site are remedied.

Potential Liability:

It may be argued that if an owners corporation who:

1. Is responsible for the gas meter/main; and
2. Ignores the best practice guidelines by not installing a permanent visible bollard to prevent physical damage; and
3. an incident occurs bursting the gas main, and it can be established that a reasonable person would not have noticed the gas main near their vehicle
4. The body corporate may be found in contravention of the Gas Safety Act 1997 Victoria for ‘Negligently breaking’ a gas installation or meter assembly (S 79 D).

Recommended Course of Action:

If an owners corporation repeatedly fails to look after common property or owner’s interests and assets, owners can enforce the obligation, if necessary, with assistance of the Office of the Commissioner.

If the matter proceeds to litigation, owners corporation’s may be liable to lot owners for any expenditure incurred as a result of the owners corporation ignoring its statutory duty to maintain the common property. Lot owners may also be able to obtain damages resulting from economic loss, costs of repair and legal costs, under common law.

Relevant Standards and Legislation:

• AS 1596:2014
• AS/NZS 5601.1:2013
• AS 4645:2018
• Gas Safety Act 1997

GAS METER BOX LOCATION HANDBOOK (FOR GAS METER SIZES AL8 TO AL18) (atco.com)Gas Meter Location – Single and Multi Occupancy Premises (ausnetservices.com.au)

Within AS4645.1 appendix M a list of restricted and prohibited gas meter locations has been provided:

Peter Berney
Solutions in Engineering
E: [email protected]
P: 1300 136 036

This post appears in Strata News #575.

Question: Is the body corporate responsible for smoke detector compliance certificates if the smoke alarms are hard-wired to the building?

Answer: Terminology could be key here. If you are talking about 240-volt smoke alarms inside private apartments, then these are connected to the individual apartment’s electrical supply and any maintenance/compliance matters for them generally fall upon the apartment owner.

Chris Chatham
Linkfire
E: [email protected]
P: 1300 669 439

This post appears in Strata News #572.

Question: Which Act, Regulation or Code in Victoria specifies that a fire door must be kept closed except for normal ingress/egress?

Answer; A fire door cannot stop a fire if it’s open.

It’s logic. That’s how a fire door works. A fire door cannot stop a fire if it’s open.

Beyond that, you go to BCA à AS1905.1, which tells you how a fire door needs to operate.

Then your Occupancy Permit (OP) will list “fire doors” and the building regs required to maintain ESMs as per your OP.

There is an exception if it has a suitable hold-open device that will release upon fire detection.

Chris Chatham
Linkfire
E: [email protected]
P: 1300 669 439

This post appears in the May 2022 edition of The VIC Strata Magazine.

Question: Our fire door closer has started to leak. The fitting is on the inside, connected to the front door of the apartment. The fitting would only be 3 or so years old. Should this be covered under warranty, and is this the responsibility of the Owners Corporation or the lot owner?

Answer: Given the item at hand is on the interior of the apartment door, it will most likely fall to the lot owner.

If I read this correctly, you are referring to the closer mechanism on the front door of your apartment. Warranties vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, and can depend on model, purchase date, etc.

The plan of subdivision will identify the boundaries of the Owners Corporation versus private lot property, however, given the item at hand is on the interior of the apartment door, it will most likely fall to the lot owner.

Chris Chatham
Linkfire
E: [email protected]
P: 1300 669 439

This post appears in Strata News #403.

Question: We have a fire door that connects the communal laundry to a common property corridor. Does this fire door need to remain closed at all times?

Our apartment block has 4 flats on the 1st floor and 4 flats on the second floor. There is one entry into the building and the whole footprint of the building is contained within a rectangular.

The door from the common property corridor to the laundry is a fire door. The laundry leads to a balcony. Residents keep the fire door open. Must the fire door be kept closed at all times?

Answer: Fire doors must always be closed unless they are held open by a device that is connected to a system that allows for the door to close automatically in the event of fire / smoke being detected.

Fire doors must always be closed unless they are held open by a device that is connected to a system that allows for the door to close automatically in the event of fire / smoke being detected. Part of the testing of a fire door is that the closer is in place, and that the fire door automatically closes and latches.

In this situation, if there is a fire in the laundry when the door is wedged open and no one is there to close the door, the fire can spread uncontained throughout the floor / complex.

Chris Chatham
Linkfire
E: [email protected]
P: 1300 669 439

This post appears in the April 2021 edition of The VIC Strata Magazine.

Question: What is the policy in relation to fire safety and stairwell doors onto common areas such as the car park?

I am the owner of an apartment in a high rise complex in Victoria.

I am interested in finding out what the policy is in relation to fire safety and using the internal stairs. I would also like to know the policy in relation to stairwell doors onto common areas such as the car park. Should these doors be locked and the areas inaccessible to the tenants of the apartment.

Answer: Assuming that you are talking about a fire-isolated stairwell, then usually they will not be locked from the hallway side on any of the levels

Joel Chamberlain

It all comes back to what falls under fire code etc.

It’s also contingent on how the building has been set up, for instance, if the person is in a fire stairwell, then the doors generally only open at the very bottom.

They’re not meant to be used to travel between different floors, for example to the car park. There is a reason the doors only open into the stairwell and don’t open back out of the stairwell. It is designed to force everyone to the bottom of the fire stairwell to exit to the outside of the building to safety.

Fire stairwells are also built to keep fire out, so people using them don’t get burnt in a fire.

Outside of that, as I say it comes back to fire requirements.

Chris Chatham

I can’t advise on what policies an Owners Corporation may have in relation to security and use of common property. However, from the perspective of Essential Safety Measures (ESM) the focus is on escaping the building in a fire event.

Assuming that you are talking about a fire-isolated stairwell, then usually they will not be locked from the hallway side on any of the levels, so that you can always get into that stairwell in order to escape. However, it is very common for the doors to be locked from the inside, so that anybody inside the stairwell cannot access other floor levels (unless they have a key or fob for that level). This is a security measure used in many high rise buildings.

Depending on the number of levels covered by the stairwell some other provisions for re-entry to hallways may be required; however, the only door that in all cases has to be unlocked from within a fire-isolated stairwell is the final exit point (commonly the ground level), so that you can exit the building.

Joel Chamberlain
Horizon Strata Management Group
E: [email protected]
P: 03 9687 7788

Chris Chatham
Linkfire
E: [email protected]
P: 1300 669 439

This post appears in Strata News #403.

Have a question about fire staircase safety or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.

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