Australian Standards and Technical Advisory Committee Updates - June 2022
Posted on : Friday, 17 June 2022
Australian Standards
Here's the latest on fire protection-related standards building
developed at Standards Australia:
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CE-030 Maritime Structures
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AS 4997 is currently being drafted by the
Committee.
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EM-001 Electric Vehicle Operation
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AS 5732 is in the public comment stage.
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FP-002 Fire Detection and Alarm Systems
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Resolution of the public comment on the AS 1670.6 revision
continues.
AS 3786 (an adoption, with modification, of ISO 12239) has moved
to ballot stage.
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FP-004 Automatic fire sprinkler installations
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Progress continues on drafting the revision of AS
2118.6.
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FP-018 Fire Safety
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Progress continues on the revisions of AS 1530.1 (Combustibility
test) and AS 1530.4 (Fire-resistance tests).
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FP-020 Construction in Bushfire Prone Areas
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Progress continues on the new handbook for "Maintenance of
construction in bushfire-prone areas" (SA HB 208).
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FP-022 Fire Protection of Mobile and Transportable Equipment
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Resolution of the public comment on AS 5062 continues.
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LG-007 Emergency lighting in buildings
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AS/NZS 2293.1:2018 Amendment 1 has moved to ballot
stage.
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LG-011 Photoluminescent Exit Signage
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Public Comment on AS 5358.1.1 is being resolved.
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ME-002 Gas cylinders
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Revisions of AS 2030.1 and AS 2030.5 are being
drafted.
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Fire Safety of Lift Landing Doors
Update
Standards Australia convened the most recent Fire Safety of
Lift Landing Doors Workshop in January 2022, after much discussion
amongst the vertical transportation and fire safety experts over
several months.
A draft question to be considered was developed and
endorsed by the appropriate experts as a result of this
considerable culminative discussion.
Standards Australia's position is that the question needs
to be answered, with the technical veracity to be verified by the
Building Codes Board.
The question developed was as follows:
Is the test described in the ISO standard sufficient
for the purposes of demonstrating compliance with the relevant
Performance Requirements of the BCA, when applied to a building
that otherwise complies with the DTS Provisions? (Note: this
might be found by way of equivalence, and this may be the easiest
path and therefore should be investigated).
If the test alone is not sufficient are there any
amendments to the DTS provisions, together with the ISO test
method, which would meet the relevant performance
requirements?
Australian Industry Group have advised they will consult with
relevant parties as to next steps in resolving the
matter.
They will advise as and when further involvement of
Standards Australia and FP-018 may be of assistance, or whether an
alternative course of action that obviates the need for Standards
Australia and FP-018 to be further involved at all may be
adopted.
Technical Advisory Committees update
The next round of TACs will again be held via webconference and
begin on Tuesday 5 July and will finish on Wednesday 27 July.
Some key topics for this round will include continued
discussions on lithium-ion safety and suitability of products for
the Australian market. Progression of Australian Standards project
proposals.
There will be a number of sub-committees organized to focus on
spacing of sprinkler heads in concealed spaces and lithium-ion
batteries.
In addition to a Special Interest Group being formed of public
testing laboratories and third-party accreditation bodies to focus
on evidence of suitability issues.
FPA Australia would encourage members to take up the opportunity
of joining our Technical Advisory Committees.
For more information on the different TACs and how you can get
involved, please visit the TAC section on our website here.
Committee update
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TAC/1 Maintenance of fire protection systems and equipment
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TAC/1 plans to progress work on project proposal for the
revision of AS 1851-2012.
FPA Australia is forming a subcommittee of interested members
from both TAC/1 and TAC/4/8/9 to discuss the testing requirements
of AS 2419.1 and the ongoing AS 1851 hydrostatic testing of hydrant
systems.
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TAC/2 Fire detection and alarm systems
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Work will continue on the Good Practice Guide on Speaker Layout.
Work also continues on the Technical Advisory Note on Building
Occupant Warning Systems. Substantial feedback was received from
the initial review by TAC members. A workshop was proposed to
progress the work on this document.
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TAC/3/7 Portable and mobile equipment
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A focus for TAC/3/7 will be to progress work with AS 1851
project proposal and the AS 1841 and AS 1850 revisions. Once these
revisions are complete a review of AS 2444 can commence.
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TAC/4/8/9 Fire sprinkler and hydrant systems, tanks and fixed
fire pumps
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A workshop will be organised to discuss spacing of sprinkler
heads in concealed spaces with a sub-committee of interested
parties.
An external review of the pumpset checklists have been
completed. The final amendments to the pumpset checklists are
underway by the technical team. Once finalised they will be
circulated to the TAC for a look over before progressing to
publication.
FPA Australia is forming a subcommittee of interested members
from both TAC/1 and TAC/4/8/9 to discuss the testing requirements
of AS 2419.1 and the ongoing AS 1851 hydrostatic testing of hydrant
systems.
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TAC/11/22 Special hazards fire protection systems
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There have been no significant updates on current projects for
this TAC.
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TAC/17 Emergency planning
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IB-11 V2 Evacuation diagrams is nearing finalisation and will be
published in due course.
Different terminologies for the acronym R.A.C.E are currently
being collated to form the basis of a technical document.
The TAC plans to meet in person in July to complete the review
of AS 3745-2010.
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TAC/18/19 Passive fire protection
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A document on Unfilled door frames is in final stages and will
be published in the next few weeks.
Discussion on passive training continues as does contribution to
the work of FP-018.
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TAC/20 Bushfire Safety
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A draft of the BPAD Practice Note on conducting BAL assessments
using method 1 of AS 3959:2018 has been circulated to the TAC
for review.
A working group has been established to develop a document on
calculating effective slope. A workshop will be organised with the
relevant individuals to commence this.
Following the March meeting, Kathryn Kinnear from Bio Diverse
Solutions presented two webinars. The webinars can now be assessed
through the FPA Australia webinar platform FPA+ here.
- Clarifying vegetation classification of AS 3959
- Calculating effective slope in the field and applying
exclusions of AS 3959
The Position Statement on Sarking has now been published and is
available via the FPA Australia website
here.
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