Competent Fire Safety Practitioners NSW NETWORK

All our network professionals hold qualifications with The Building Professionals Board, NSW. Typical qualifications include BPB NSW Accredited Certifier: C8,C9,C10 and C14 or with Fire Protection Association Australia (FPAA: Fire Systems Designer and Fire Safety Assessor).

A new clause 167A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (EP&A) Regulation Act 2000 confirms that government can recognise a class of persons as ‘competent fire safety practitioners’ for the purposes of one or more provisions of the Regulation. The classes of persons are not limited, so government can recognise any demonstration of competency that it chooses. However, the Regulation identifies that these classes may include:

1. A class of person holding a specified category of certificate of accreditation under the Building Professionals Act 2005;
2. A class of persons holding a specified category of certificate of accreditation under the Building Professionals Act 2005 and having some other characteristic or qualification; or
3. A class of persons who have undergone particular training or assessment carried out by a specified professional organisation or body or an industry organisation or body.

Industry Accreditation Schemes currently under development are intended to satisfy the requirements of (3).

The below relates to persons preparing the design and specifications for proposed building works in the following areas:

• Design of Hydraulic fire safety system/s within the meaning of Clause 165 of the EP&A Regulation (Fire Hydrants, Fire Hose Reels, Sprinkler Systems (including wall wetting sprinkler or drenchers systems) or any type of automatic fire suppression system of a hydraulic nature).
• Design of Fire Detection and Alarm system/s
• Design of Mechanical ducted smoke control system/s
• Fire Safety Engineering Performance Solutions

The CFSP assessment process for Fire System Designers and Fire Safety Engineers from the Association of Accredited Certifiers (AAC) is clarified as below:

A) Fire System Designers – CFSP Assessment Process

BPB / NER Persons (Clause 167A)

Should the persons seeking to be recognised as a CFSP hold the following Grades of BPB Accreditation or be NER registered in the relevant discipline, then these are acceptable in ascertaining the criteria to be assessed as a CFSP for the following elements of the design:

• BPB Accredited – Category C8 – Deemed to be CFSP for Fire Detection and Alarm system/s
• BPB Accredited – Category C9 – Deemed to be CFSP for Mechanical ducted smoke control system/s
• BPB Accredited – Category C14 – Deemed to be CFSP for Hydraulic fire safety system/s of Clause 165 of EP&A Reg.
• National Engineering Register (Engineers Australia) – Professional or Chartered Engineer – in Building Services, Mechanical or Fire Safety as applicable to the fire services related to the CFSP requirement together with current Professional Indemnity.

Assessment Process – No further assessment is required, as it is deemed that the BPB and/or Engineers Australia have already undertaken the appropriate assessment process to deem the person competent, once their accreditation number and category and insurance is confirmed.

Note: For BPB Accredited persons, the responsibility for acting in accordance with Schedule 4 – Code of Conduct of the Accreditation Scheme is the responsibility of the Grade C Accredited persons and not the AC or PCA to assess or enforce.

B) Fire Safety Engineering CFSP as detailed in Clause 130 and Clause 144A

• Must have Grade C10 Accreditation as a Fire Safety Engineer, irrespective of the size of the development/building the subject of the (Alternative Solution) Performance Solution.

Assessment Process – No Further assessment is required, as it is deemed that the BPB and/or Engineers Australia have already undertaken the appropriate assessment process to deem the person competent, once their accreditation number and category and insurance is confirmed.

Note: For BPB Accredited persons, the responsibility for acting in accordance with the Schedule 4 Code of Conduct of the Accreditation Scheme is the responsibility of the Grade C Accredited persons and not the AC or PCA to assess or enforce.

The previous term ‘properly qualified person’ was not defined, but implied that an individual must hold a qualification to conduct an associated task. A key aspect of the reforms is to recognise that only competent individuals should perform certain tasks regarding fire safety, and that a qualification alone is not the only acceptable method of demonstrating competency.

The Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000 (EP&A Regulation) requires that a Competent Fire Safety Practitioner (CFSP):

• endorses plans and specifications for relevant fire safety systems
• endorses fire safety performance solution reports
• endorses exemptions to the Building Code of Australia (BCA) for minor works to existing relevant fire safety systems
• undertakes the annual fire safety statement assessment of buildings.

Competent Fire Safety Practitioner (CFSP) is a new term in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Fire Safety and Building Certification) Regulation 2017 (the Regulation). In this first stage of reform, in some instances, it replaces the term ‘properly qualified person’ previously referred to in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000, and is also referenced in relation to fire safety design work.

Fire Safety Practitioners (FSP) is an Australian owned network site that provides a range of affordable fire design and installation services for building owners and developers. Find out more