Reforms to fire safety regulation

The key changes affecting building owners and/or developers are:

From 13 February 2023

• For class 2, 3 or 9c buildings, owners must provide a copy of the fire safety certificate to the building practitioner issuing a building compliance declaration under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020. Find out more about building practitioners and building compliance declarations.
• Building owners will also be able to more easily request corrections of minor errors in fire safety schedules or a replacement if the schedule is lost or destroyed.

From 1 August 2023

• Owners must ensure that a person who develops a non-standard fire safety design proposal in all types of buildings except single dwellings and certain types of boarding houses, guest houses or similar, consults with FRNSW if a construction certificate is required for the building work.
• There will also be expanded requirements for fire safety related matters to be referred to FRNSW after an application for a construction certificate is made.

From 13 February 2025

• From 13 February 2025 (or 18 months after an accreditation scheme is approved, whichever occurs first), owners must use an accredited person(s) to certify newly installed fire safety measures before issuing a fire safety certificate, and include relevant information about that accredited person in the fire safety certificate.
• Owners must maintain essential fire safety measures in all types of buildings except single dwellings in accordance with procedures in the Australian Standard 1851-2012 Routine service of fire protection systems and equipment, where the maintenance activity is addressed by the standard.

The key changes affecting fire safety practitioners are:

From 1 August 2023

• Fire safety practitioners (usually a fire safety engineer) who develop a design brief for a performance solution for a fire safety requirement in a Class 2-9 building will need to consult with FRNSW if a construction certificate is required for the building work. Find out more about the FRNSW requirements for consultation.

From 13 February 2025

• From 13 February 2025 (or 18 months after an accreditation scheme is approved, whichever occurs first), persons who certify newly installed fire safety measures before a fire safety certificate is issued must be accredited.
• Persons maintaining essential fire safety measures in class 1b-9 buildings must do so in accordance with procedures in the Australian Standard 1851-2012 Routine service of fire protection systems and equipment, where the maintenance activity is addressed by the standard.

The key changes affecting certifiers and councils are:

From 13 February 2023

• A council or a certifier will be able to re-issue a fire safety schedule on request by a building owner to correct minor errors or omissions or to replace a missing schedule.

From 1 August 2023

• A certifier must refer all fire safety related performance-based matters for all Class 2-9 buildings to FRNSW after receiving an application for construction certificate and after receiving an application for an occupation certificate. Find out more about the FRNSW requirements for referrals.
• Councils and certifiers must use a mandatory Fire Safety Schedule template for Class 1b to 9 buildings.

From 13 February 2023

• Building practitioners who issue a building compliance declaration under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (currently applicable to Class 2, 3 and 9c buildings and buildings with a Class 2, 3 or 9c component) must lodge a copy of the fire safety certificate with their declaration. Building owners will be required to provide a copy of the fire safety certificate to the building practitioner.

Find out more about building practitioners and building compliance declarations.

Councils / certifiers able to correct minor errors in Fire Safety Schedules or to replace a missing schedule.

Builders required to lodge Fire Safety Certificate with Building Compliance Declaration.

Owners, developers and certifiers consulting with Fire and Rescue NSW on performance solutions. Find out more about the FRNSW requirements for consultation.

Councils / certifiers required to use the fire safety schedule template.

Building owners applying mandatory procedures for maintaining fire safety measures.

Building owners required to use accredited person(s) to certify newly installed fire safety measures.

No. This requirement does not apply until 13 February 2025 or 18 months after an accreditation scheme is approved (whichever occurs first). Stakeholders will be notified when an accreditation authority and scheme has been established.

Until this requirement starts, building owners need to continue to ensure ‘a properly qualified person’ undertakes the assessments before the owner issues the Fire Safety Certificate for new building work.

The deferment of the new requirement is achieved through Schedule 1A (‘Savings, transitional and other provisions’) in the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021.

This delay allows time for a new accreditation scheme to be created, amongst other things.

If you need to complete an annual or supplementary fire safety statement, you are required to maintain the essential fire safety measures in your building.

For some owners, no preparation is needed if you already have contracts with practitioners to maintain measures and provide documentation in accordance with AS1851-2012 - Routine service of fire protection systems and equipment, even though this is not currently mandatory.

If measures are not already being maintained to AS1851-2012 in buildings needing an annual fire safety statement, the standard is not mandatory until 13 February 2025. However, building owners should ensure maintenance contracts are updated to require compliance with this standard by that date.

If an annual fire safety statement is not required for your building, building owners should still ensure that the fire safety measures serving the building are adequately maintained.