Fire Protection Regulatory System
Approval
The draft amendments to the fire protection industry regulations were emailed to FPA Australia members and were generally well received with a number of minor but important amendments being suggested to the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.
The amended Regulations - Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Regulations 1995 - were approved by the Governor General with effect 1 May 2005. The effective date for penalties prescribed in the Regulations was 1 November 2005.
The Regulatory System
The regulatory system under the new Regulations consists of:
- Fire Protection Industry (ODS & SGG) Board
- Six Extinguishing Agent Handling Licences
- Trading Authorisations to acquire, store or dispose of an Extinguishing Agent
- Halon Special Permit to possess halon for use in fire protection equipment
- Offences & Penalties
Extinguishing Agent Handling Licences
Any person who handles ozone depleting or synthetic greenhouse gas (ODS & SGG) extinguishing agents must hold an extinguishing agent handling licence.
Handling means doing anything that could cause a discharge and includes connecting and disconnecting extinguishing agent containers.
Refer to Regulation 302 for a definition of handling. Also refer to section 4.1.2 of the Code of Practice for more information on what activities require a person to hold a licence.
Extinguishing Agent Trainee Licence
The trainee licence authorises a trainee to work under the supervision of a qualified person who holds the appropriate Extinguishing Agent Handling Licence.
Transitional Licence
A 'period of grace' was applied whree those who held a current State or Territory accreditation would be granted - on application - a transitional Extinguishing Agent Handling Licence. The duration of the transitional licence was designated as up to the expiry date of the State or Territory licence or 1 January 2007 whichever was the earlier.
Extinguishing Agents Trading Authorisations
The maximum period of authorisation is 24 months. This authority is required by anyone acquiring, storing and/or disposing of extinguishing agents as listed in the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989. A Trading Authorisation is required to undertake the following activities.
- buy/sell/possess agent in bulk or
- fill/recover agent
A Trading Authorisation is not required by a purchaser of fire protection extinguishers or system cylinders already charged with an extinguishing agent listed in the Act.
Halon Special Permit
This permit is valid for a maximum period of 12 months and authorises possession of halon for use in fire protection equipment. It should be noted that anyone ‘holding’ halon extinguishing agents must have a current halon special permit. For example, even if there is an exemption for having halon in your fire protection system - as is the case in certain aviation, defence and maritime applications – you still need a halon special permit for any halon held and not fitted into the system approved under the general exemption in the Regulations. That is, if you hold ‘top up’ stocks of halon extinguishing agents you need to hold a halon special permit to do so.
Offences listed that may attract a penalty of up to 10 penalty Units (one penalty Unit being $110) in each instance:
- Handling Extinguishing Agents without a licence
- Possessing or trading in Extinguishing Agents without authorisation
- Possessing halon without a permit