New Fire Protection Maintenance Standard for South Australia
Posted on : Thursday, 12 February 2015
FPA Australia is extremely pleased by the announcement in
today's South Australian Government Gazette that, from May 1 2015,
AS 1851-2012 Routine Service of Fire Protection Systems and
Equipment will be the State's required standard for fire protection
maintenance.
The Gazette notes that the 'Minister's Specification SA
76-Maintenance and Testing of Safety Installations Schedule of
Essential Safety Provisions', dated January 2000, has been amended
and republished by the Department of Planning, Transport and
Infrastructure as 'Minister's Specification SA 76-Maintenance of
Essential Safety Provisions-2015 edition'.
The Minister's Specification SA 76- Maintenance of Essential
Safety Provisions 2015 edition now requires compliance with AS
1851-2012 Routine service of fire protection systems and equipment
for the maintenance of fire protection systems and equipment in all
new buildings from 1 May 2015 and also allows for existing
buildings to transition their fire protection maintenance
activities to AS 1851-2012.
In December 2013 FPA Australia provided the South Australian
Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure with a
comprehensive proposal to amend the state's regulatory requirements
for fire protection maintenance, which was greeted with support
from the regulator.
In September 2014 a working group was formed to review the South
Australian Minister's Specification SA 76 with the view to adopting
AS 1851-2012 and other best practice Standards where applicable.
The working group included representatives from SAMFS, local
government and Department of Planning, Transport and Industry and
was chaired by an independent private building
surveyor.
FPA Australia invested significant resources into this working
group to ensure the best outcomes for the industry and the South
Australian community were achieved. The Association not only
participated in all working group meetings over a 4 month period,
we were also responsible for strongly highlighting the need for the
adoption of the new standard in order to realise community
expectations for fire safety and ensure South Australian regulatory
requirements were aligned with the national agenda and contemporary
maintenance practice and training methodologies. FPA Australia's
Position Statement PS-03 outlines the benefits of adopting the
latest standard (visit
www.fpaa.com.au).
FPA Australia Good Practice Guide GPG-03 will now be updated for a
third time to reflect these changes in South Australia which
compliment adoption of AS 1851-2012 by other jurisdictions.
However, implementation of the new Standard's technical activities
and processes including how to transition existing buildings to AS
1851-2012 will be presented at an upcoming FPA Australia event
specifically tailored for South Australia. In addition, to
ensure your company is complaint with AS 1851-2012 FPA
Australia has developed a suite of recording and reporting logbooks
which can be purchased from the FPA Australia Sales Centre here.
The Association would like to formally commend the South
Australian Government for the leadership role it has taken in
ensuring the best fire protection maintenance practices are adopted
via this important standard. We thank the Department for allowing
FPA Australia to participate on and provide input to the working
group over the course of the past six months. FPA Australia
also wishes to thank members of the South Australian Membership
Group Coordinating Team for their input and support for this
change.
If you have any questions in relation to Minister's Specification
SA 76-Maintenance of Essential Safety Provisions 2015 edition or AS
1851-2012 please contact FPA Australia's Technical Department at technical@fpaa.com.au.