In lieu of recent tragedies, a spotlight has again been shone on fire safety compliance both in passive fire and active fire. However, regardless of this, you may have seen that the QBCC have stepped up concentrated audits as of the 1st of July this year. It has been announced that where breaches are identified, prosecution or action will be taken on the building certifiers.

In our opinion, it’s the open penetrations that we see in way too many places, sometimes get scared to open up a service cupboard. Our concern are blatant open holes that are not even treated, for example like the one above open floor penetration in a riser.

It’s crucial that fire safe compliance be better executed across all systems including Party Walls, the walls that are shared between two or more dwellings, most common in class 1a apartments, terraces, and town houses. Party walls create a barrier between containment zones which limits the spread of smoke and fire.

We've been carrying out a series of training sessions on basic passive fire awareness with builders who want their on site team to have a better understanding of what passive fire certifiers are looking for to certify the fire walls and ceilings, and penetrations. The sessions have provoked much discussion, questions and fun banter from the construction manager through to the on site tradies.

Our co-founder Peter recently spoke at the Fire Protection Association conference in Sydney on the topic of ‘What’s changing in Passive Fire’. The conference touched on many issues that are providing challenges in the passive fire industry - some of which are being addressed, and many which are not.

The current Draft Queensland Building Plan proposes that Building Certifiers perform mandatory inspections on fire rated party walls in Class 1a buildings (townhouses, duplex). This review is an acknowledgment that the industry is currently doing this badly and sadly we fully agree.