rporteous's blog

From 1 July 2013, the Victorian Government will require councils throughout Victoria to collect a Fire Services Property Levy on their behalf in conjunction with their standard property rates.

Currently, insurers are required to contribute to the cost of operating the Metropolitan Fire Brigade and the Country Fire Authority. The insurance industry passes the cost of this contribution on to policy-holders through an amount in their insurance premiums, known as a fire services levy.

I follow various fire safety news feeds to keep abreast of the problems associated with fire and related emergencies throughout the world.

Over the past week there has been a lot of press from the United Kingdom about a fire in Camberwell, London at Lakanal House. Lakanal House a 14 storey residential apartment building was constructed in the late 1950's and completed in the the early 1960's. On July 3, 2009 a fire in an apartment on the 9th floor caused six people to die and 20 people were injured.

Emergency Services Legislation Amendment Act 2012 (Vic) was proclaimed in Victoria on December 1, 2012.

Earlier today I received an email from a customer saying that in Victoria the Building Commission was stating that it is still (5/2/2013) a requirement for building owners to display a copy of the Annual Essential Safety Measures Report.

My initial reaction was to reply back and ask, where did she hear that statement?

To which I received an email back with a screenshot copy of a page from the Building Commission website last updated on [8-Feb-2008] that said;

Earlier this evening, I intercepted this email between one of our customers (James) and one of my colleagues (Dennis) on the Subject of AS1851:2012 - Monthly Sprinkler Testing. The email was in response to the publication of Australian Standard AS1851:2012 that was published on December 3, 2012.