Fire Safety Risk Assessments and Reports, Compliance
Audits (including AS4655 Audits), Fire Safety
Maintenance Audits and Reports including independent
review of maintenance documentation and records,
maintenance planning and scheduling.
A large number of our clients do not have dedicated
maintenance staff and as a result, most of the
maintenance scheduling and documentation is handled by
an employee with no experience with maintenance
procedures or legislative requirements.
Many clients have not been aware that many of the Fire
Safety features of their buildings had not been maintained
in accordance with the legislative requirements, and when
audited by the QFRS, have been issued with substantial
fines and orders to rectify the issues. Under current
legislation, the onus of maintaining and documenting the
Special Fire Services in a building is the responsibility of
the building occupier or owner.
We can also help with the preparation of site equipment
registers and the ongoing updating of the documentation.
Example 1:
A client has a 20,000 sqm building that was divided into
fire compartments that were 1,000 sqm in size. The
required maintenance for the fire separation was never
carried out in accordance with the requirements, and an
inspection showed many breaches of the fire separation
system. The result of a fire in this building had the
potential to burn the entire building to the ground within 1
hour, and due to the lack of correct maintenance, an
insurance claim could have been refused. Upon
rectification of the fire separation, in the event of a fire the
client would potentially only lose 1,000 sqm of lettable
space and as the building was maintained in accordance
with legislation, an insurance claim would less likely to be
refused.
Example 2:
A client, who owned a large building that was subject to
a Fire Engineered Alternative Building Solution to allow for
extended travel distances and a greater than normal
number of occupants, carried out Approved building
renovation work, which did not take into account the Fire
Engineered Alternative Building Solution. As it is the
responsibility of the owner to ensure that the certification
documents are kept in a prominent position in the building
and in the building maintenance manuals, the failure of
the Certifier to take the Fire Engineered Alternative
Building Solution into account, rested with owner as well
as the Certifier. In the event of a fire that may have
caused injury or death, the owner of the building could
have faced hefty fines and a prison sentence. The
oversight by the Certifier was discovered during a Fire
Safety Inspection & Maintenance Audit, thankfully on
advice from us, the Fire Engineered Alternative Building
Solution was amended to account for the new work.
Example 3:
A client, the owner of a large office building requested a
Fire Safety Maintenance Audit and during the process it
was discovered that many of the maintained fire services
and equipment were not required, to meet building code
requirements.
The client was able to remove a number of extinguishers
and have several doors, which were being maintained as
Fire Doors and were not, from his maintenance regime,
which saved $3,000 per inspection and a total of $12,000
per year. With the expected life of the building being 25
years, this is a considerable saving.
Should you have any queries please call us on 1800 191 612