Fire Wall Separation Requirements
ARGEST Building Compliance is a (BWOF) Building Warrant of Fitness agent.
The BWoF (Form12) is based on the collection of forms 12A from all of the service providers for all of the systems listed on your building’s Compliance Schedule.
Some of these systems require regular (monthly, quarterly or bi-annual) checks, and others only a yearly inspection shortly before the re-issue of the BWoF is due.
During the year there may be changes to some of these specified systems that go unnoticed — e.g. new fibre optic cables installed by Chorus may need to go through fire separations.
The importance of getting it right
Fire can destroy any building if the design does not take account of the risk and minimise potential dangers. Below is an example of effective fire separations.
How safe are the occupants in your building right now?
- Have there been any upgraded or new services installed in the past six months? e.g. Air conditioners, IT or Telecom cables, etc.
- Does your BWOF compliance schedule include:
– Fire Separations – SS15/3
– Smoke Separations – SS15/5 - Have all the firewalls/ceilings and smoke barriers been inspected for compliant penetration seals?
- Do you have a ROUTINE MAINTENANCE PLAN in place to cover passive fire inspections?
- Do you have all the evidence of compliance required for all passive fire penetration seals from your specialist fire-stopping installer, so a Form 12A can be issued for SS15/3 & SS15/5 by them?
- Do you have a Compliance Assessment Consultant working with your existing IQP’s & service providers to provide the specialist knowledge required to ensure BWOF compliance and insurance requirements surrounding passive fire protection?
What’s wrong with this picture? Your building should be SAFE TO OCCUPY ALL THE TIME, with up-to-date repair records, maintenance reports and inspection logs available to Council.
Argest can assist you to develop/improve a long term scheduled or routine maintenance plan. This will avoid the risks the come with managing your own BWOF compliance requirements, and avoid costly last-minute remediation.
To arrange an initial observation of the passive fire/smoke separations in your building and a brief introduction to passive fire compliance requirements, simply contact the team at ARGEST Technical Services on 09 309 9419.
