The eight key elements of your fire safety responsibilities

Every property owner has an obligatory duty of care to protect the people within the property. This is enshrined in SafeWork NSW guidelines which stipulate that every employee or PCBU (person conducting a business or undertaking) must eliminate, as is reasonably possible, any health and safety risks in the workplace.

“This is all-encompassing,” says Campbell. “It’s the law under safe work regulations, and it’s an essential element of public liability and insurance.”

Maintaining a fully compliant property is also essential for property insurance purposes. An insurer may void your policy or fail to pay in the event of fire damage if they determine that you have failed to maintain essential compliance.

“If a building owner failed to repair a sprinkler system for instance, and an outbreak occurred, what might have been a $2,000 fix could instead mean a $500,000 bill for repairs and rebuilding after a fire,” says Campbell.

“Additionally, a landlord might have to pay for tenants’ relocation costs and costs associated with breaking a lease on top of the repair and rebuild outlay.”

In line with very public property defects, the NSW Building Commissioner has introduced greater accountability for fire practitioners and other building contractors in order to lift and maintain safety and quality standards. Councils oversee compliance and property owners who are negligent may face hefty fines.

“Councils police compliance requirements under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 2000. If council inspectors find any issues, they can put a fire order on the building. Owners must complete or have in place an approved works program of essential systems repairs/upgrades or attract penalties ranging from $1000/day to $10,000 per week – and the building may also need to be vacated depending on the size and nature of the problem – until the fire order is adequately resolved.

Owners then have to make the essential repairs or changes and penalties might range from $1000 to $10,000 per day, depending on the size and nature of the problems.”

All property owners must have systems in place to enable completion of AS 1851-2012 (Routine service of fire protection systems and equipment), which is the Australian standard for fire equipment asset management, in addition to other aligned standards within the Building Code of Australia (BCA).

Campbell states: “All asset owners and managers such as facility managers or retail managers have a duty of care to ensure the multiple fire protection systems – such as sprinkler systems, fire alarm systems and fire exit doors – operate correctly. This function is set by AS1851-2012 generally required in fire maintenance contracts. There are legal requirements for recording maintenance and reporting mechanisms for building owners and managers.

You must have in place an emergency response plan AS3745-2010 including conduct regular fire evacuation drills for your tenants, and you are obligated to contract fire protection professionals to conduct annual tests of all fire systems.”