Fire Safety Adviser

A Fire Safety Adviser (FSA) is required to be appointed and trained for high occupancy buildings as defined under the Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008.

High occupancy buildings include:

Class 2, 3, 5, 6, 7b, 8, 9a or 9b buildings that are workplaces where 30 or more workers are normally employed.
Class 2 or 3 buildings that are more than 25 metres in height.
Licensed premises that have been identified by the Commissioner as at risk of overcrowding.

Who is responsible for appointing a Fire Safety Adviser?

It is the occupier's responsibility to appoint and train a FSA for buildings that are classified as high occupancy.

What is a Fire Safety Adviser?

A FSA is person who holds a building fire safety qualification for an approved building fire safety course, issued within the last 3 years

An approved building fire safety course comprises 8 competencies in

Workplace Emergency Response within the Australian Quality Training Framework.

They are:

PUAWER001A - Identify, prevent and report potential workplace emergency situations

PUAWER002A - Ensure workplace emergency prevention procedures, systems and processes are implemented

PUAWER003A - Manage and monitor workplace emergency, procedures, equipment and other resources

PUAWER004A - Respond to workplace emergencies

PUAWER005A - Operate as part of an emergency control organisation

PUAWER006A - Lead an emergency control organisation

PUAWER007A - Manage an emergency control organisation

PUAWER008A - Confine small workplace emergencies

What duties will a Fire Safety Adviser perform?

The occupier is responsible to for ensuring that all workers receive adequate instruction building evacuation in the event of fire or emergency. The occupier can be assisted in this by the FSA.

In addition, the occupier is responsible for:

Fire safety management plans (where applicable)
Evacuation instructions to workers
Evacuation plans and procedures
Annual practicing of evacuation procedures
Prescribed record keeping

A FSA can provide:

General evacuation instructions[1]
First response evacuation instruction[2]
Evacuation coordination instructions[3]
Coordination of evacuation procedures practice
Review of evacuation plans and procedures

Does the Fire Safety Adviser have to be a person on staff?

There is no requirement for the FSA to be a person on staff. However, it is recommended that where practical the FSA be an existing staff member. Some reasons for this recommendation are:

The occupier and staff have an easily accessible point of contact about fire safety matters,
The FSA is likely to have familiarity with the occupier's buildings and knowledge of protocols and fire safety arrangements internal to the organisation
The FSA is more easily accessible for coordination of fire safety arrangements
The FSA may easily be made aware of changes within the building or staff appointments or changes within the organisation
Attending fire officers and licensed contractors engaged to maintain the fire safety installations for the organisation have a point of contact
The FSA may, on behalf of the occupier, liaise with other FSAs in a multi-tenanted building to ensure that evacuation plans and procedures and coordinated

Occupancies with Workplace Health and Safety Officers may choose to nominate and train those persons as the FSA.

How many Fire Safety Advisers should the occupier appoint?

One FSA can be appointed for more than one building.

For example, a university may have 1 or more FSAs to cover the campus, or a company which has suites of offices in one or more buildings in any city or town may appoint 1 or more FSAs to cover those buildings.

When considering how many FSAs to appoint for high occupancy buildings, assessment should be made of the workload of the FSA to be effective in this important workplace role and the risk factors applicable to those building(s).

Risks could include:

The nature of occupants (such as physical or intellectual impairment)
Building structure (such as age or flammability of fixtures and fittings)
Building use (such as sleeping quarters or storage of hazardous materials)
The local environment (such as in a bushfire prone area),

If I have a Fire Safety Adviser do I still need Building Wardens?

A FSA is one who has been trained in fire safety and workplace emergency response.

Having a FSA does not mean that building fire wardens are no longer required. A FSA is not necessarily building-specific and so may not be present in the building if a fire occurs. However, building fire wardens are building-specific.

Occupiers still need to appoint and instruct a staff member to be responsible for evacuation coordination of a building (Chief Warden) as well as those responsible for carrying out the evacuation procedures in a building (building wardens).

What is the timeframe for appointment of a Fire Safety Adviser?

Under the transitional provisions contained in the Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008, existing high occupancies have until 1 July 2009 to appoint and train FSAs.

However, where new high occupancies are established before 1 July 2009, an FSA must be appointed and trained within one month of occupation of the building.

If a FSA ceases to act as the FSA, or the FSA's building fire safety qualification is no longer current, the occupier must appoint a person to be the FSA within one month of the change.

Where can I get more information?

If you require further information regarding FSAs or the Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008, please email inspections@qbm.com.au.

[1] General evacuation instructions include point out the paths of travel, evacuation routes and the location of manually operated alarms. These should be given to all workers within 2 days of commencement of work and every 12 months thereafter.

[2] First response evacuation instructions include the method of operation of manually operated fire alarms and fire fighting equipment such as extinguishers. These should be given to all workers within 30 days of commencement of work and every 24 months thereafter. These instructions may also be given by a RTO or by another means (such as interactive DVD) that the FSA believes gives adequate instruction.

[3] Evacuation coordination instructions are given to those responsible for coordinating the evacuation of a building.