Annual Fire Safety Statement
Existing essential fire safety measures, active and passive, require periodic inspection, testing and maintenance to ensure that they function in the way they were designed and installed to in the event of fire.
Section 175 of the Regulation requires the owner of a building to maintain the essential fire safety measures to a standard no less than that to which the measure was originally designed and implemented. It is up to the owner to take the initiative in ensuring this is done.
To prove that this requirement has been met, the owner needs to do three things:
- Submit an Annual Fire Safety Statement each year to Council.
- Submit a further copy to the NSW Fire Brigades.
- Display a copy at a prominent location of the property.
The Annual Fire Safety Statement was also known as the Form 15A under the former Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 1994.
The current Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000 only refers to the "Annual Fire Safety Statement" not "Form 15A". For the benefit of building practitioners and property owners who have got used to using 'Form 15A' we will continue to name it as Form 15A on Council forms. However, the wording will be fully compliant with the current regulations.
Council has an established procedure to send out reminder letters to owners requesting for the submission of Form 15A. To assist owners with this, Form 15A and a List of Essential Fire or Other Safety Measures will be attached to our reminder letters and be tailor-made and property-specific.