How far do you know about Real Estate fire safety regulations?

If you are not quite sure whether your business is in compliance with Australian standards or not, you might need to review the fundamental ways to fulfilling fire safety regulations.

If you are not quite sure whether your business is in compliance with Australian standards or not, you might need to review the fundamental ways to fulfilling fire safety regulations.

Here is a quick refresher on the most basic and essential regulations on fire safety for your real estate agency.

The Objectives Of The Legislation

In the quest to ensuring the safest provisions for any establishment, regulations are set out to perform certain objectives. Australian fire safety standards require building officers to ensure that people can evacuate the premises safely and swiftly when a fire occurs. It also ensures the prescribed fire safety installations are inspected and maintained regularly.

Evacuating

Means Of Escape From Buildings

Building fire safety regulations require the existence of a path of travel from any place of the building to an exit leading towards a safe area outside.

Keeping Routes Free From Obstruction

A person should not place anything in the evacuation route that may restrict, hinder or delay the evacuee from escaping successfully.

Occupancy Limits For Buildings

The occupancy limits are based on the building's characteristics such as the following:

• The number of exit doors in the building
• The clear floor areas of the building
• The flammability of fixtures
• The installed fire safety equipment prescribed
• The building's use
• number of persons who use or are likely to use the building

This section emphasizes the risk of the building considering the aforementioned factors to the occupants. Therefore, a limit is set to the number of occupants that can stay in the building at one time.

Evacuation Planning, Instruction, And Practice

Keeping fire and evacuation plans in a specified form is part of the fire safety compliance, where certain details are provided in a fire and evacuation plan such as:

• Name and address of the building
• Name, address and contact numbers of the owner and occupier of the building
• The evacuation coordination procedure for the building
• Detailed instructions for evacuating the building safely in accordance with the evacuation coordination procedure
• Step-by-step guide in using the fire safety equipment, especially the manually operated ones
• Procedures for giving instructions to the building occupants on how to operate the fire safety equipment and ensuring that instructions are given correctly and completely

Evacuation Signs And Diagrams

The building manager should display correct evacuation signs and diagrams to guide occupants to safety in the event of emergencies. These signs must be displayed in a conspicuous position at every evacuation route. This is a crucial fire safety material because it is responsible for guiding the occupants through a precise route that corresponds with the actual direction of the evacuation route.

Evacuation Practice

This section applies to the occupier of the building, which requires them to carry out the essential evacuation practices regularly with an interval of not more than one year.

Prescribed Fire Safety Installations

A prescribed installation is important for every real estate agency, especially those in high-rise buildings. Consider the following installations and frequency of testing.

Essential Real Estate Fire Safety Regulations Measure

Emergency Lighting and Exit Signage  6 Monthly and Annual Inspections

Fire Extinguishers  6 Monthly and Annual Inspections

Fire Alarm Panels and Occupant Warning Systems  Monthly, 6 Monthly and Annual Inspections

Fire Doors  6 Monthly and Annual Inspections

Fire Blankets  6 Monthly and Annual Inspections

Fire Hose Reels  6 Monthly and Annual Inspections

Fire Sprinkler Systems  Monthly, 6 Monthly, and Annual Inspections

Fire Hydrants  6 Monthly and Annual Inspections

Obligations Of Persons Maintaining Prescribed Installations

The essential part of Real Estate fire safety regulations installations is keeping them in good condition. This requires the service of certified fire safety technicians. The obligation of professionals to maintain the prescribed installations includes not only preserving them but also reporting issues that might affect the functionality of the equipment.

Call us to have your building inspected and ensure a safer working environment.