as the world cities continue to grow at
an unprecedented rate the construction
industry has boomed embracing many new
building techniques and materials
whether you're a resident an owner or
the manager of the property everyone has
a part to play in fire safety as an
owners corporation member or manager
it's your responsibility to ensure
essential safety measures are in place
and well maintained essential safety
measures are a building's first line of
defense when an incident like a fire
occurs like anything they require
ongoing care and maintenance there can
be many elements that make up essential
safety measures within a building it's
important that managers and residents
work together to understand where
they're located
how they work and how to test them at
the end of the day safety of the
residents is paramount and these
measures are designed to help smoke and
heat detectors in fire safety you're
extremely important because they're the
first audible alert or alarm that
there's a fire or smoke present this
enables people to exit the building and
in some cases it alerts the fire brigade
they're very complex and they need to be
tested and maintained properly there
will be at least one in each apartment
the role of a fire sprinkler system is
to stop a fire before it develops and
spreads it's one of the first lines of
defense for fire they need to be
maintained and tested regularly fire
doors we're fitted restrict the spread
of smoke and flame it gives people
valuable time to get out of the building
it's important that they're regularly
serviced and that the area around is not
blocked and that the doors are not
locked
smoke doors are designed to stop the
spread of smoke and flame it's important
that the self closes and the door seals
are checked regularly emergency exit
signs offer a fast exit from the
building for residents they need to be
illuminated at all times and
firefighters will also use these to get
in and out of the building fire hydrants
need to be accessible and fully
maintained it's critical that the
firefighters can access these when
fighting a fire fire extinguishers are
really effective at containing small
fires residents should know where they
are located and if they're confident to
use them do so but all
remember call triple zero owners
corporations have an important role to
play in ensuring fire safety awareness
in their buildings community which
includes practicing evacuation drills
ensuring good housekeeping and
monitoring maintenance of exit lighting
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an emergency evacuation plan is an
important document it covers what to do
in emergency the plan needs to be
visible so places like lobbies lifts
notice boards each owner-occupiers
should have a copy and it should be
tested at least once every year owners
of properties that cater for short stay
accommodation have a responsibility that
all their fire safety systems are in
good working order they should also have
an evacuation map on the back of the
main entry door and they should also
provide people to staying there with
relevant fire safety information it's
important to get to know your building
every building is different and your
building may have originally been
designed with additional unique safety
features which may need special
maintenance
owners corporation managers need to have
a good relationship with people that
live in the building they need to be
able to go into apartments and check
fire safety they need to constantly have
the discussion around fire safety they
need to practice evacuation drills
ensure that everything is clean and
housekeeping is in good order and also
ensure that emergency lighting is
working
where possible managers should maintain
a building register it's important for
us the fire brigade to know who is in
the building or who may be in the
building especially for short state
accommodation and people that
potentially have mobility issues the
legal responsibility an owners
corporation manager has is to ensure
that the essential safety measures are
regularly tested and maintained logbooks
need to be filled in and there's
penalties for non-compliance needs to be
done by an accredited provider and you
as the manager and the provider need to
have a good understanding of the safety
measures within the building so we've
now covered many of the main areas
involved in fire safety its these
measures that will help keep your
property and its people safe as an
owners corporation manager or member of
the committee it's your responsibility
to ensure all essential safety measures
are in place and well maintained if you
have any questions around this please
contact your local fire services Fire
Safety Department or your local
government authority Municipal Building
Surveyor
you
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