Annual Fire Safety Statements
(formerly referred to as a Form 15A under old legislation)
All building owners and property managers should be aware of their responsibilities for the maintenance of essential fire safety measures in their buildings, as outlined in the Environmental Planning & Assessment Regulation 2000. Clause 182 of the Regulation requires the owner of a building to maintain each essential fire safety measure in that building in accordance with relevant standards of performance, and those standards are usually nominated by Council in a previous Development Consent, Construction Certificate, or a previous Fire Safety Order that was issued upon that property.
This clause places ultimate responsibility for the maintenance of fire safety measures on the building owner. It is important that owners and occupiers realise that maintenance of their fire safety systems is not just a moral obligation or their duty of care, but more importantly is a legislative requirement as mentioned above. Apart from this, other vital reasons for maintenance are:
- To ensure safety of building occupants
- To continuously preserve the function and performance of fire safety systems and equipment
- To maintain and protect assets – proper preventative maintenance can save money
- To avoid business interruption and disruption to activities/operations in the event of fire
Generally what will happen every year is that you may have several different contractors attending the premises at specific intervals throughout the year to provide a maintenance service for several different fire safety measures. Each contractor should then give you some type of certification in relation to the assessment they have carried out, listing the specific measure/s they have serviced and referencing a particular Standard of Performance that the installed measure is achieving. Once you have obtained and gathered all this together, you are then required to consolidate all this information and transfer it collectively onto the one document known as an Annual Fire Safety Statement.
The correct statutory version of an Annual Fire Safety Statement is available at Council as a blank 
Annual Fire Safety Statement Form - 33 KB that may be used for the above purpose. This form can be collected in person from Council, or may be downloaded from this website.
NB: Council in June 2011 resolved that the registration and lodgement of an Annual Fire Safety Statement will incur a fee of $52 (including GST) in accordance with Council's Schedule of Fees and Charges. An invoice will be sent out with the Annual Fire Safety Statement reminder.
The process of correctly preparing and completing an Annual Fire Safety Statement may seem daunting at first, especially for owners who haven’t undertaken the task previously for their property.