Building Fire Safety Legislation For Queensland

The Department of Emergency Services (DES) has completed a review of the Building Fire Safety Regulation 1991.

A Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) process undertaken in 2007 allowed stakeholders and the community to provide DES with feedback on proposals for changes to the regulation.  

The Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008 reflects the proposals for change and improvement contained in the RIS as well as the feedback received from industry stakeholders and the community. 

The primary purpose of the regulation is to:

• Ensure that persons can evacuate from buildings safely in the event of a fire
• Ensure that fire safety features and equipment in buildings continue to perform to the same standard and to provide the same level of safety as originally intended
• Prescribe fees to be paid for the assessment and inspection of special fire services and the assessment of fire engineering design briefs.

The remade regulation commenced on 1 July 2008 with transitional provisions for certain new requirements.

The major new requirements are:

• An improved fire and evacuation framework
• That high occupancies appoint and train a Fire Safety Adviser
• That relevant approval documents for alternative solutions be obtained and kept with the fire and evacuation plan
• That the entity responsible for the whole building (e.g. body corporate or building manager) ensure that evacuation arrangements for the whole building are integrated with those of all tenants or residents
• That doors along exit routes are kept unlocked as long as someone is in the building
• That critical defects in fire safety installations are reported to the occupier and that they be repaired within 1 month

The most significant reform is the requirement for high occupancy occupiers to have a Fire Safety Adviser on staff. High occupancies are defined as those businesses with 30 or more employees, a Class 2 or 3 building over 25m in height and certain licensed premises that have been identified by the Commissioner as at risk of overcrowding.