Fire safety compliance is one of the clearest legal duties a strata scheme carries, and it is one where the responsibility sits squarely with the owners corporation. If you sit on a strata committee or manage a building, you need to know what has to be maintained, what has to be lodged, and who is allowed to sign it off. This guide walks through it in plain English so you can keep your building safe and compliant without getting lost in the regulation.
Who is responsible for fire safety in a strata building?
In a NSW strata scheme, the owners corporation is responsible for the fire safety measures that protect common property. That covers the shared parts of the building: corridors, stairwells, foyers, plant rooms, basements and the systems that run through them. Individual lot owners look after what is inside their own lot, but anything that serves the building as a whole falls to the owners corporation.
In practice the committee and the strata manager coordinate the work, arrange access, and keep the records. The legal duty to maintain the measures still rests with the owners corporation under strata law, so it pays to have a clear system rather than leaving it to chance. If you are unsure where a particular measure sits, confirm the specifics with your strata manager or an accredited practitioner.
What is an Annual Fire Safety Statement and why does it matter?
The Annual Fire Safety Statement, or AFSS, is a document that confirms every essential fire safety measure in your building has been assessed and is working as it should. Under the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation, most buildings with shared fire safety measures must lodge an AFSS every year with the local council and Fire and Rescue NSW, and display a copy in the building.
The statement has to be based on inspections carried out by a suitably accredited practitioner for each measure listed on your building's fire safety schedule. Missing the annual deadline can expose the owners corporation to penalties and, more importantly, leaves the building without current proof that its fire protection actually works. Getting the AFSS lodged on time each year is the single most visible part of strata fire compliance. You can read more on our Annual Fire Safety Statements page.
Which fire safety measures need to be maintained?
Your building's fire safety schedule lists the measures specific to your property, but most strata buildings include a familiar set:
- Fire extinguishers and hose reels
- Smoke alarms and detection systems
- Fire doors and their seals and closers
- Exit signs and emergency lighting
- Fire hydrants and sprinkler systems where fitted
- Mechanical ventilation and any special measures on your schedule
Each of these has to be kept in working order all year, not just checked once before the statement is due. Fire doors are a common weak point in strata buildings, because everyday wear, propping and painting can stop them sealing properly. Our fire doors and smoke alarms pages explain what regular servicing involves.
How do you coordinate access across a whole building?
Access is where strata fire safety often gets stuck. Inspections need to reach common areas, plant rooms, risers and sometimes individual lots where a measure crosses the boundary. In a busy residential or mixed-use building that means notifying residents, booking a window that suits, and making sure keys, fobs and alarm codes are ready on the day.
A little planning removes most of the friction. Give residents clear notice, group the inspections so the whole building is done in as few visits as possible, and keep a single point of contact between the committee, the strata manager and the fire safety provider. When one team handles everything, they can move through the building in a logical order instead of several contractors turning up on different days.
Why use one accredited provider for the whole building?
Fire safety measures are usually spread across different trades, which is how buildings end up with several contractors, several invoices and several sets of paperwork that do not line up. Bringing extinguishers, alarms, doors and lighting under one accredited provider changes that. One team inspects the whole building, keeps one consistent record, and can prepare the assessments that feed straight into your AFSS.
At Blaze Fire Safety, our FPAA-accredited fire safety practitioners handle every measure in your building with one team for the whole job. That means fewer visits, a single point of accountability and paperwork that is ready when the statement is due. We are based in Kogarah Bay and work across metro Sydney, the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra and South Coast, so we can look after buildings right across the region. See our Sydney CBD service area for more on where we work.
What does strata fire safety cost?
Cost depends on the size of your building, the number of measures on your fire safety schedule and how much servicing they need. A small residential block is very different from a large mixed-use tower, so a fair quote always starts with your building's specific schedule rather than a set price. If you would like a clear figure for your scheme, get in touch through our contact page and we will scope it properly.
Keeping a strata building compliant is far easier when one accredited team owns the whole job from inspection to statement. If your committee or building wants a straightforward, reliable partner for fire safety, we would be glad to help. Contact Blaze Fire Safety for a free quote through our contact page or call (02) 5760 8991.