What Can You Expect From A Fire Safety Inspection From QFRS?

These guidelines provide information about fire safety inspections (previously known as audits). Buildings  may expect a fire safety inspection to be carried out on their buildings from time to time under the new fire safety legislation.

This guideline is intended to assist building owners, occupiers and body corporate/ managers , in understanding the process of a fire safety inspection and the possible outcomes of a fire safety inspection. It should be read in conjunction with the legislation, the Fire Safety Standard and the other guidelines listed at the back of this guideline.

It is the owner/occupier/Managing Entity obligation to ensure that the building complies with all the fire safety requirements. Building occupiers are people who have a delegated responsibility for fire safety within a building. The occupier may be an owner/operator of the building, the lessee or the building manager. Building occupiers are required to ensure that all fire safety installations in their building are maintained in accordance with the Fire Safety Standard and the appropriate Australian Standard. In addition, building occupiers are

required to keep records of maintenance of their fire safety installations in the Fire Evacuation Plan  for their building.

A  fire safety inspection helps to ensure that owners and occupiers of buildings are meeting their responsibilities under the legislation, that buildings are fitted with the correct fire safety installations required by the Fire Safety Standard, and that those fire safety installations are maintained in an operational condition. Fire safety inspections are a check of all fire safety procedures, installations and records within a building to determine compliance with appropriate legislation and regulations. The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS) undertake two levels of fire safety inspections of all types of buildings to ensure that they comply with the relevant fire safety legislation. A Level 1 inspection, known as a fire safety inspection, is a visual check of fire safety in a building using a standard fire safety inspection checklist of legislative requirements. A Level 2 inspection, known as a fire safety survey, is an assessment of the building against all legislative requirements, a check of evacuation instructions given to staff and residents, a check of the records of maintenance of fire safety installations and an operational test of those fire installations.(Fire and Rescue Service Act 1990 Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008) 

On some occasions where a building has complex fire safety installations, a fire protection contractor may be engaged to assist with the testing of those installations. During a fire safety survey carried out on a budget accommodation building, the building will be assessed by QFRS officers for compliance with the new requirements of the Fire Safety Standard as well as the pre-existing requirements of the and the . Each year a number of budget accommodation buildings will be inspected as part of the QFRS inspection program for.