Passive fire compliance… you know you need it, and that to be compliant or at least maintain best practice, your fire rating needs passive fire inspection and/ or certification.

With so many defects in highly publicised cases, works are bound to be scrutinised more closely, so it’s a necessity to be diligent, compliant and create evidence.

It’s not easy to ensure compliance in a large building, but it’s a necessary cost of construction. There can be many self-certifiers but we’re finding that many are choosing not to certify 1) because of the risks involved, and 2) because errors can be costly, so having a third party inspection reduces these risks. But what typically goes into it… what is happening behind the scenes to ensure compliance?

What are you really getting?

Some of our statistics for recent projects where we have acted as a third-party quality assurance indicate the time that goes into making sure our clients project is compliant ensuring a smooth handover.

Here are some recent statistics for:

In these same buildings (except the 4 storey mixed), there are typically over 2,000 penetrations that require sealing and inspection, and if you’re completing one register only of penetrations in the
building then typically this can account for another 100+ hours in these buildings on stickers, photos and documentation.

Add to that again, many hours for the teamwork behind the scenes in advice, research, system selection and certification, full documentation, ITP’s, advice and training for sub-trades and sorting out site issues as they arise.

When you consider the legislative inspection requirements of various jurisdictions there are often conflicting and sometimes minimal legislation. Take the case where only one inspection of fire walls is required per floor, one would think there needs to be someone carrying out more checking. Some are only subjected to random audits from overseeing bodies where defects are only rectified if found. Also is inspecting only 30% of anything as is the legal requirement for others, enough to ensure there are no defects? We wouldn’t think so.

Unless of course a builder is engaging a third party to inspect these items, can a building surveyor really be sure that defects are found and rectified?

To stay up to date with industry changes and to ensure compliance on your next project call 1800 PASSIVE or enquire at www.plus.systems.