Fire safety

The Building Legislation Amendment (Smoke Alarms) Act 2005 and the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Smoke Alarms) Regulation 2006 commenced in NSW on 1 May 2006. The legislation refers to residential and certain shared accommodation across NSW and requires:

1. the installation of one or more smoke alarms in buildings in which persons sleep;
2. smoke alarms installed in such buildings must be operational; and
3. persons do not remove or interfere with the operation of smoke alarms installed in such buildings.

Do you live in or own...

Residential accommodation

• detached houses, terrace houses, town houses, villa units (Class 1a buildings).
• apartments, home units, flats (Class 2 buildings).
• caretakers flats, single residences above shops (Class 4 parts of buildings).
• relocatable homes, e.g. manufactured homes and moveable dwellings, but not tents, camper vans, caravans or the like.

Boarding houses/shared accommodation

• small boarding houses, guest houses, hostels; backpackers accommodation; bed and breakfast accommodation (Class 1b buildings not more than 12 persons with a total floor area not exceeding 300m²).
• large boarding houses, guest houses, hostels, backpacker accommodation; residential parts of hotels, motels, schools, health care buildings, detention centres; certain residential accommodation for the aged, children and people with disabilities (Class 3 buildings more than 12 persons).
• hospitals and nursing homes (Class 9a health care buildings).

If you answered "yes" to any of the above, then the laws apply to you and you must have a minimum of one working smoke alarm on each level of your property.

The state government allows building owners to install either hard-wired smoke alarms, or ones that are battery-only operated in certain existing buildings. However, the Regulation amendment does not override a local council's role under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 when Council has to consider a development application where changes are proposed to existing buildings.

The Regulation amendment does not override the need for a new building or an addition/alteration to an existing building to comply with the Building Code of Australia (BCA). Construction certificates and complying development certificates for building work cannot be issued unless the proposed works demonstrate compliance with the BCA which requires the installation of a hard-wired battery backup smoke alarm. The Regulation amendment also does not prevent a Council from issuing a fire safety upgrade order on a building to which the Regulation amendment applies, because if an existing building is subject to a current order, the Regulation amendment does not override that order.

If any residential premises (i.e. dwelling, unit, hotel, motel, boarding house, backpackers etc.) ever comes under the scrutiny of Council through an application that is submitted such as a development application, complying development certificate, etc., then that application will be subject to an assessment under the BCA. If that occurs then the requirements of the BCA will be applied to that assessment and it will be insisted at that time that the BCA requirements for a “hard-wired” smoke alarm system compatible with that particular building use be provided.

Similarly, these same requirements will be applied to buildings that Council audits for fire safety purposes and then follows-up with the issuing of a fire safety order. Basically, more stringent BCA requirements will be applied to any buildings that attract Council's involvement for any sort of assessment or audit.

A final fire safety certificate is a certificate which is issued once the installation of new essential fire safety measures – either as a result of a fire order or new building construction works – have been completed.

The certificate is supplied to Council as part of a fire order upgrade or as part of an occupation certificate application prior to the occupation of a building.

A final fire safety certificate is only required:

• before the issue of a final occupation certificate under clause 41 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021; and
• if a fire safety order has been issued in relation to a building or premises.

A copy of the fire safety certificate is also to be forwarded to Fire and Rescue NSW and a copy must be prominently displayed in the building.

• Fire safety certificate form (DOCX 247.3KB)

Essential fire safety measures are any measures that are installed in a building to ensure the safety of persons using the building in the event of fire. The Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021 contains a list of statutory fire safety measures that may have been incorporated in the building to ensure the safety of the occupants within the building in the event of a fire or other emergency, including but not limited to:

• Access panels, doors and hoppers to fire-resisting shafts
• Automatic fail-safe devices
• Automatic fire detection and alarm systems
• Automatic fire suppression systems
• Emergency lifts
• Emergency lighting
• Emergency warning and intercommunication systems
• Exit signs
• Fire control centres and rooms
• Fire dampers
• Fire doors
• Fire hose reel systems
• Fire hydrant systems
• Fire seals protecting openings in fire-resisting components of the building
• Fire shutters
• Fire windows
• Lightweight construction
• Mechanical air handling systems
• Perimeter vehicle access for emergency vehicles
• Portable fire extinguishers
• Safety curtains in proscenium openings
• Smoke alarms and heat alarms
• Smoke and heat vents
• Smoke dampers
• Smoke detectors and heat detectors
• Smoke doors
• Solid core doors
• Standby power systems
• Wall-wetting sprinkler and drencher systems
• Warning and operational signs

In the majority of cases, building regulations such as the Building Code of Australia (BCA) require the installation of essential fire safety measures.

Council may request the installation of additional equipment or construction methods, not part of a typical list of essential fire safety measures, to ensure the safety of persons in a building in the event of fire, or for the prevention of fire or to prevent the spread of fire.

Council may require the installation of essential fire safety measures or the fire safety upgrading of buildings in the following instances:

• Development Applications for building works

  When a Development Application for works involving the rebuilding, alteration, enlargement or extension of an existing building is submitted to Council for approval, the application will be assessed for compliance with current building regulations (i.e., the BCA). At this stage, pursuant to Clause 64 of the Environment Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021, Council has the ability to decide whether it is appropriate to require the existing part/s of the building to also be brought into total or partial compliance with the BCA.
  
  

  Development Applications for change of use

  Where the use of an existing building is proposed to be changed, but the applicant does not seek the rebuilding, alteration, enlargement or extension of the building, Council will still consider the impacts to the safety of persons occupying or intending to occupy the building as a result of the proposed change of use. In considering the change of use, Council will determine and nominate any essential fire safety measures that are needed to be installed in the building.

Existing buildings

As part of its fire safety upgrading program, Council may, at any time inspect and assess the fire safety level of an existing building and if it is considered necessary, order the owner/s to carry out upgrading works and install essential fire safety measures compatible to the building use and inherent with the risks involved as part of an overall risk management strategy.

 

New buildings

If you intend to construct a new building, approval is required. Forming part of any construction certificate that is issued, Council or a private certifier will nominate the essential fire safety measures required and the design standards to which they must be installed.

A fire safety schedule specifies the essential fire safety measures – both current and proposed – that should be implemented in a building premises, and the minimum standard of performance for each fire safety measure included in the schedule.

If you require a fire safety schedule from Council, please lodge an "access to information (GIPA)" request online:

Lodge an "access to information" request

A pyrotechnician's licence or fireworks (single-use) licence is issued by SafeWork NSW by way of legislation known as the Explosives Regulation 2013

The Regulation requires that, as a condition of each licence issued, the licensee must notify each of the following authorities of an intention to use any fireworks, distress signal or model rocket propellant device:

• SafeWork NSW – at least 7 working days before the fireworks, signal or device is to be used
• Council – at least 7 working days before the fireworks, signal or device is to be used
• Local area commander of Police – at least 2 working days before the fireworks, signal or device is to be used
• Fire and Rescue NSW – at least 2 working days before the fireworks, signal or device is to be used

While Council must be given notice, Council has no power to approve the use of fireworks – however Council may object to or impose conditions on their use. After receiving notification of the intended use of fireworks, Council may decide to object to the use of the fireworks, and inform the pyrotechnician and SafeWork NSW of this decision. The fireworks display must not proceed unless the licensee has been able to resolve any objections by Council.

Issues that Council may take into consideration when deciding whether to object to or impose conditions may include:

• Appropriateness of the location, e.g. proximity to residences or hospitals
• Reason for the display, e.g. is the display in the public interest?
• Types of fireworks, e.g. Aerial fireworks may have greater impact on surrounding areas that ground fireworks
• Impact on any affected residents and businesses
• Impact on animal welfare
• Public liability issues
• Noise
• Pollution
• Public nuisance
• Appropriate notification to neighbouring properties. Council may need to decide what it believes to be a reasonable area of coverage for notification, and how this should be done by the applicant, e.g. Letterbox drop, media advertisement
• Proposed procedure for disposal of spent fireworks
• Whether appropriate crowd and traffic management issues have been addressed where the display is likely to draw crowds
• Whether a usage fee is charged in cases where Council land assets are utilised
• Any other local conditions that Council may consider relevant

All these matters are covered by a self-assessment fireworks display checklist, which is available on the SafeWork NSW website.

Council may request the completed checklist to be submitted to assist with review of the notification. In the event of a late notification being received by Council, then either of the following will be done:

• Council will notify SafeWork NSW no less than 2 working days prior to the event that it raises an objection, or
• Council will provide SafeWork NSW with written confirmation that no objections are raised, or
• where Council is unable to provide SafeWork NSW with written confirmation that there are no objections due to the late notification, then Council may object on the grounds that there has been insufficient time to assess the notification.

As parts of the local government area are bounded by maritime property, if any fireworks events are proposed to be held on maritime property then NSW Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) must also be contacted and notified of the proposed display, with any approvals to also be obtained, if required. For further information, please contact SafeWork NSW.

High-profile building fires in Melbourne and Grenfell Tower in London have highlighted the potential risks for buildings that have non-compliant wall cladding such as aluminium composite panels (ACP).

As a building owner, you are responsible for ensuring your premises are maintained, safe for occupation and that essential fire safety measures are in working order.

Owners of certain buildings with external combustible cladding are required to register their building with the NSW Government through its cladding regulation online registration portal.

For buildings occupied before 22 October 2018, the deadline for registration was 22 February 2019. Owners of new buildings are required to register their building within four months of the building first being occupied.

For further information on actions taken by the NSW Government, details on external wall cladding and next steps for property owners/occupiers, please visit the NSW Fair Trading website.

If you have an enquiry about fire safety, please contact Council online.

Make a general enquiry