Complying with fire regulations means that the installed systems are capable of operating to their design criteria. All over Australia each state and territory has differing fire regulations and a different level of required compliance. It is important that as a building owner you have a clear understanding of what fire regulations apply to you.

The table below outlines a brief comparison of each state and territories requirements for fire regulations:

As a building owner you have a Duty of Care obligation to the occupants of your building and the general public, as such it is important that you understand how your building operates, especially when dealing with essential services and fire regulations. You must know details of the different services that are installed in your building and how they operate in fire mode. 

If you own a diverse portfolio of commercial, retail and industrial property there can be many challenges involved in keeping up to date and ensuring that your buildings are safe and compliant, for instance:

-    Understand your tenants lease obligations? Fire regulations and compliance; who is responsible for what?

-    Do you have a consistent approach when dealing with fire regulations and compliance?

-    Have you budgeted for any upcoming works?

-    Are you able to coordinate multiple tenants maintenance and performance requirements?

-    Are you able to coordinate contractors, testing, tenants and in the case of NSW have all works undertaken (to avoid penalties) and completed in a short time frame?

-    Depending on the building type there are numerous items that need to be maintained and typically across a number of different service providers?

-    Does your building have an engineered solution? Is this incorporated into your fire regulations schedule of essential services? Are you doing enough testing to ensure safety in an emergency situation?

As an owner it is important to ensure you maintain a consistent management approach in the case of fire regulations and essential services compliance. It is also important to follow one set of procedures across your entire portfolio. From a risk management and OH&S perspective why would you use a higher standard for fire regulations in one state and then a lesser standard for fire regulations in another?

From a compliance and audit perspective, one set of fire regulations procedures will define clear obligations across your portfolio. Heavy fines apply for breaches of compliance and the new OH&S regulations hold management, (owners if you manage your own property personally) liable.

Health & Safety, fire regulations compliance and maintaining the essential fire safety measures is one of the most important responsibilities of owning a commercial property. Fire regulations do vary from state to state and fire systems are quite complex in terms of their design and maintenance, so as an owner you should  have good knowledge of what the maintenance and certification requirements are.

Any gaps in understanding with respect to the fire regulations between the lessee and lessor can ultimately mean that the tenant/s occupying your property are not safe.

When dealing with fire regulations the owner should always take a risk management approach:

-    Document essential services maintenance and certification in a software system

-    Give yourself plenty of time to put service providers on notice

-    Develop a detailed script of who you need to attend when and what you need done

-    Engage tenants and incorporate tenancy requirement into your program

-    Be mindful of the time it will take to get approvals and to complete replacement requirements

-    Have a clear understanding of the scheduled and adhoc costs that may arise in order to have the funds ready and avoid delays.

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