Building Fire Safety
Who is responsible for building fire safety in your building, the building manager or the tenant? The simple answer is, both. The tenant is responsible for having a system to control and exit their tenancy and the building manager is responsible for the system to control the entire site. Both systems should work with each other
Winning Safety offer a no nonsense Fire and Emergency Planning and Compliance Service. To achieve this we utilise audits and training services obtain the best outcomes. This service is designed to ensure our clients fully meet their mandatory emergency planning obligations of the;
- Work Health & Safety Regulations 2011 (WHSR2011);
- Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008 (BFSR2008); and
- the industry best practice recommendations of AS 3745 - 2010 Planning for emergencies in facilities. (AS3745)
The fire and emergency planning compliance services are just some of those offered by Winning Safety. To ensure our clients achieve their compliance needs we offer a number of services to meet these goals.
- Fire Safety Advisor Service
- Fire and Evacuation Plans
- Emergency Management Plan
- Evacuation Signs and Diagrams
- Emergency Risk Assessments
- Building Health Audits
We also offer compliance training services which are tailored to each individual workplace. The training services offered are
- Evacuation Coordinator Building Warden (ECO)
- General Evacuation and First Response
- General Evacuation Practice
If you are interested to know if your business or building complies, we have prepared a simple check that take less than 1 minute of your time. Click here
A Fire Safety Adviser is required to be appointed by the occupier of a building when the building is deemed to be a 'high occupancy building'. Winning Safety has qualified Fire Safety Advisers who, with their years of professional Fire Safety Adviser experience in the fire safety industry, have a working knowledge of local fire safety legislation, and are able to provide the following fire safety adviser services under the Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008 (BFSR):
• Active and passive prescribed fire safety installation audits
• Specialist maintenance contractor audits
• General fire safety consultancy on or off site
• Liaison with regulatory agencies
• Fire and evacuation plans, evacuation co-ordination procedures, emergency plans and evacuation signs and diagrams
• Advice and consultancy to emergency planning committees
• Evacuation coordination instruction, general evacuation instruction and first response evacuation instruction to building occupants
• Statement monitoring and Annual Occupier's Statements
• Audits and reviews of fire and evacuation plans, evacuation coordination procedures, emergency plans, evacuation signs and diagrams and other related documentation
• Training record maintenance and compliant logbooks
The Winning Safety Fire Safety Adviser service is an annual subscription fee to nominate Winning Safety as your Fire Safety. By utilising the services of a Winning Safety Fire Safety Adviser, building occupiers are assured of meeting 'industry best practice' standards, fulfilling their duty of care obligations, complying with the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011, and the Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008.
Every Class 2 to Class 9 building must have a written Fire and Evacuation Plan in place for the building and available on request. The Fire and Evacuation Plan must be in written form & incorporate all the requirements of the Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008. It must include information about the building owners and occupiers, the address of the building, evacuation coordination procedures, the evacuation coordinator (ECO structure) for the building & contact details, instruction on how to operate fire fighting equipment in the building, who is responsible for carrying out the procedures. If the building is a High Occupancy building the Fire and Evacuation Plan must incorporate additional requirements such as the name and contact details of the Fire Safety Adviser and when they were trained. Winning Safety will work with you to develop a Fire and Evacuation plan for each building.
The Work Health & Safety Regulations 2011 outlines the duty of those persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) to prepare, implement and maintain an emergency plan.
The emergency plan must provide for;
(a) Emergency procedures, including—
(i) an effective response to an emergency; and
(ii) evacuation procedures; and
(iii) notifying emergency service organisations at the earliest opportunity; and
(iv) medical treatment and assistance; and
(v) effective communication between the person authorised by the PCBU to coordinate the emergency response and all persons at the workplace;
(b) testing of the emergency procedures, including the frequency of testing;
(c) information, training and instruction to relevant workers in relation to implementing the emergency procedures Winning Safety will work with you to develop an emergency plan for your business.
Every building must have evacuation signs/diagrams installed on the evacuation path to identify the emergency and evacuation procedures and the exit path from the building in an emergency. Winning Safety produces workplace Evacuation signs/diagrams to display important information such as exits, portable fire fighting equipment, fire/communications panels, evacuation routes, assembly areas, emergency telephone numbers, and brief emergency instructions as required in the Fire and Evacuation Plan. Winning Safety will utilise existing information if it is available, or will undertake site measurements to develop appropriate evacuation signs - evacuation diagrams as required by the Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008 to fulfil the requirements of the Fire and Evacuation Plan.
The Work Health & Safety Regulations 2011 outlines the Management of risk obligations for the person conducting the business or undertaking. The PCBU has an obligation to identify and control as far as reasonably practicable the hazards and risks in the workplace. The Australian Standard for managing emergencies in facilities (AS3745-2010) also outlines the best practice guidelines for identifying and controlling emergencies in the workplace. Winning Safety will work with your Emergency Planning Committee to conduct risk assessments on likely emergency events at your workplace. These will assist in the development of emergency procedures that are specific and effective for the organisation/facility.
Building Health & Safety Audit (Public Liability)
Building Health and Safety Audits are designed to protect not only the occupants, staff and visitors to a property, but also the property itself.
A complete inspection of all common property, including both internal and external of a building or complex by qualified Health and Safety Officers, to provide a clear picture of performance in terms of health and safety management. As a result, action can be taken before incidents occur. The intention is to protect people from the risks that cause real harm and suffering, and to keep you on the safe side of the very latest Workplace Health and Safety Legislation.
Training Services
Evacuation Coordinator Building Warden (ECO)
Winning Safety can provide initial and on-going Evacuation Coordination Instructions/procedures that are relevant and specific to the building and can provide records detailing the instructions to be given that are compliant with the requirements of the WHSR2011, BFSR 2008 and AS 3745-2010. Such Evacuation Coordination Instructions/ training would address, but not be limited to:
• The duties of those responsible for responding to an emergency
• Procedures for specific emergencies including evacuation coordination instructions
• Familiarisation and instruction in the use of emergency communication systems
• Responding to alarms and reports of emergencies
• Alerting and communicating with persons in the building
• Alerting external emergency services, including the use of manually operated fire alarms and emergency warning equipment
• Pre-emergency, emergency and post-emergency activities
• Arranging the evacuation of persons with special needs, members of the public and other persons in the building, to a designated assembly area for the building
• Checking whether all persons have been evacuated from the building
• The performance of the building's 'installed' fire and emergency related equipment.
General Evacuation and First Response
General evacuation and first response should cover
- The means of evacuating the building
- The means to operate portable fire equipment
The Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008 details mandatory requirements to deal with a fire or hazardous materials emergency. One of the specific requirements for the occupier (PCBU) is to provide General Evacuation & First Response instructions to each person working in the building. This also includes maintenance personnel who meet the prescribed person requirements.
This training is an annual requirement for the general evacuation instruction and every 2 years for the First Response Instruction. General Evacuation & First Response Instructions are also required to be given by the occupier of the building:
- to a person who starts work in the building as soon as practicable within 2 days but no later than 1 month after the person starts work in the building; and
- to each person working in the building when there is a material change to either the method of operation of a manually operated fire alarm or building fire fighting equipment, in which case the instructions must be given within 1 month of either change occurring. Winning Safety can assist building occupiers to fulfil their requirements by providing, on their behalf, initial and on-going General Evacuation & First Response Instructions to each person working in the building.
It is a requirement that occupiers test their emergency evacuation procedures at least annually in the form of an emergency evacuation drill. A record of this training must also be kept. Winning Safety is able to assist clients to plan and implement an Emergency Evacuation Practice drill. We will liaise with the relevant building occupier(s), the evacuation coordinator and those responsible for carrying out the evacuation coordination procedures under the building's fire and evacuation plan (emergency plan). At the completion of an Emergency Evacuation Practice, Winning Safety will participate in a debriefing session on the Emergency Evacuation Practice with the building's evacuation coordinator (emergency control organisation) and other key participants.