Are there enough passive fire inspections on your building?
Passive fire compliance… you know you need it, and that to be compliant – in Queensland at least- your fire rating needs passive fire certification.
With many cases of defects in highly publicised cases, your works are bound to be scrutinised more closely, so it’s a necessity to be diligent, compliant, and create evidence.
It’s not easy to ensure compliance in a large building, but it’s a necessary cost of construction. There are many self-certifiers but we’re finding that many are choosing not to certify 1) because of the risks involved, and 2) because errors can be costly, so having a third party reduces these risks. But what typically goes into it….. what is happening behind the scenes to ensure compliance, what are you really getting?
Some of the statistics in some recent projects where we have acted as a third-party QA to show the time that goes into making sure our clients project is compliant ensuring a smooth handover.
Here are some recent statistics for fire wall inspections:
| Fire wall inspections | |
|---|---|
| 27 storeys Class 2 | 4 per floor |
| 9 storeys Class 2 | 6 per floor |
| Townhouses Class 1A | 3 per unit |
| 4 storey mixed Class 2, 7, 6 & 5 | 3 per floor |
In these same buildings (except the 4 storey mixed), there are typically over 2,000 penetrations that require sealing and certification, and if you’re completing one register only of penetrations in the building then typically this can account for another 100+ hours in these buildings on stickers, photos and documentation.
Add to that again, many hours for the teamwork behind the scenes in advice, research, system selection and certification, full documentation, ITP’s, advice and training for sub-trades and sorting out site issues as they arise.
When you consider that the mandatory inspections in Victoria require 1 inspection of the fire walls per storey, one would think there needs to be someone doing more checking. In Queensland there are random QBCC audits and any defects will need to be rectified. Also, is inspecting only 30% of anything in NSW, enough to ensure there are no defects? We wouldn’t think so.
Unless of course, a builder is engaging a third party to inspect these items, can a building surveyor really be sure that there are no defects?
When we’re engaged as a passive fire certifier, you are purchasing our teams collective IP, technical knowledge and the man hours it takes to train, advise, inspect and do research for your project.
To stay up to date with industry changes and to ensure compliance on your next project call 1800 PASSIVE or enquire here.