NSW is about to embark on the most significant building fire safety reforms in decades, and building owners need to know about them.
In 2020, in consultation with the Fire Protection Association of Australia (FPAA), the NSW government commenced transitioning fire safety practitioners from unqualified to qualified building assessors.
These practitioners, or fire safety assessors, as they would become known, were initially given a transitional license or accreditation to continue issuing annual fire safety statements or AFSS for five years. During this time, they would need to complete qualified courses and provide evidence of their skills regarding fire safety assets to the FPAA to obtain a fire safety practitioner’s license.
Fire safety assessors are responsible for conducting audits on buildings to ensure that all the required fire safety assets and performance/alternate solutions comply with the standard of performance (BCA/Australian Standard) and issue annual fire safety statements or AFSS.
Initially, approximately 1700 individuals took up this opportunity to become transitionally accredited and continue to practise while working toward a qualification.
The five-year period arrives in July 2025, and only individuals who have obtained the required education and qualifications will be permitted to certify buildings past July 1, 2025.
There were two pathways to qualification, which would determine what types of assets practitioners could certify.
These will become known as level one and two practitioners, with the latter certified for all fire safety measures and performance solutions. This level-two accreditation has been highly complex as many fire safety systems are associated with multi-level high-rise buildings. The government needed to be confident that only practitioners with the highest level of proven skills would certify these buildings as they present the most significant risk to building occupants. Survival Solutions has level one and two qualified practitioners available to certify your building and is available by calling 1300040362.
As of June 2025, there were approximately four hundred level one qualified practitioners, with only a handful being level two, which impacts the certification of some assets.
Assets like complex hydrants, sprinklers, detection and EWIS systems, fire and smoke dampers, ventilation and mechanical air handling.
Mechanical air handling or smoke hazard management systems relate to the methods applied to direct and control the transfer of smoke in the event of a fire within a building, facilitating safe egress of building occupants whilst supporting fire brigade response and management of building smoke post-fire. Smoke hazard management systems utilise passive (open vents) and mechanical power vents and fire/smoke dampers to limit the spread of smoke or fire by a multitude of different methods, ensuring building occupants can safely evacuate a building without being overcome with smoke
The initial intent with mechanical air handling was for the HVAC industry to assume the qualifications for service and certification of mechanical air handling systems or smoke hazard management. Unfortunately, for HVAC-qualified personnel, the qualifications required to certify HVAC also require qualifications for all other fire safety systems for which those individuals have no skills or a need. So, the HVAC industry has not taken up this responsibility, and most people working in the fire safety industry do not have the required mechanical service skills to assess and certify mechanical services.
Most buildings have straightforward mechanical air handling systems, such as a car park exhaust extraction or an air conditioning system shut upon a fire alarm. Even systems where there are mechanical dampers can be simple to assess.
However, both the service company and certifiers must understand the intent or purpose of this system and how it is designed to operate. You should have an overview or system matrix detailing how your systems operate, which should be available from your service provider.
Suppose you have any mechanical services on your fire safety schedule, and you don’t understand how it works and what it’s designed to do. In that case, you need to find out because both the owner and the owner’s agent (strata managers) legally declare that these systems function and will protect lives in a fire.
If you are uncertain how these systems work or if they are being inspected and certified correctly, contact us here at Survival Solutions on 1300 040 362. With over thirty years of experience in fire systems management, Jeff Terry, our Accredited Practitioner Fire Safety and Managing Director, is always open to chat about any issues you may have.