Archive for the ‘Safety Measures’ Category

Here’s how fire safety compliance is controlled …

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Does OH&S or Building Control legislation control fire safety compliance? (Where OH&S is Occupational Health and Safety.) This is an interesting question that just seems to get more complex as you get into it. The key thing is, that if you identify by process of elimination that the Building Control legislation does not apply it will still leave you with a duty for life and fire safety under OH&S legislation in Victoria, Australia.

By fire (and life) safety compliance I mean:

  • Fire (and life) safety requirements for the physical measures of new and existing buildings and structures;
  • Maintenance requirements for safety measures in buildings and structures; and
  • Evacuation policies, processes and procedures for existing buildings.

What’s a practical example of where this sort of ambiguity occurs? (more…)

What is “building” works?

Monday, March 8th, 2010

(More to the point) Why does it matter? It’s really important in the context of sorting out whether you need a building permit as if it’s not building works then the Building Act 1993 does not apply.

Having said that, I always thought this would be pretty easy to explain, but because the Building Act 1993 defines “building works” by exception – it’s actually not that easy.

“building work means work for or in connection with the construction, demolition or removal of a building”

What is easy to clarify is that it’s not civil works – stuff like e.g. bridges, silos, tunnels, structures …. no, actually a structure can also be a building, so the construction of some structures is building works! Mmm, let’s go back to some basics. Let’s start with the definition of a building: (more…)