An Alarm Delay Facility (ADFs) may be provided in certain Class 2, 3, and 4 residential buildings, discussing their role in reducing unwanted nuisance fire alarms and the requirements outlined by Australian Standard AS1670.1:2018 for smoke detectors.
One of the most common causes of false alarms in a building with a bathroom is steam from a hot shower. Steam is an airborne aerosol that from a smoke detectors perspective is very similar to smoke. This can cause a smoke detector to operate unnecessirarly where a bathroom is not well ventilated and a smoke detector is located too cloase to a bathroom door.
Australian Standard AS 1670.1:2008 provides limited guidance to the installation and subsequent access to fire detectors as well as control and indicating equipment. This article covers the requirements in the Standard and follows up with scenarios where limited access to this equipment could adversely affect routine servicing and maintenance.
In Victoria, the Retail Leases Amendment Act 2020 clarifies the entitlement of landlords to recover from tenants the costs of installation, repair and maintenance of essential safety measures (ESMs).
There exists an industry fallacy that batteries for fire systems must be replaced every two years irrespective of condition. The reality is that according to Australian Standard AS 1851:2012 this requirement only applies to batteries used for engine start applications. In this article we discuss the difference between standby batteries and batteries used for engine start applications.
No one type of detector is most suitable for all applications and the final choice of detector must depend on the individual circumstances. In certain situations it may be useful to combine different types of detectors (including multi-criteria detectors) to achieve the best results.
A portable fire extinguisher is a pressure vessel that contains an extinguishing agent such as water, dry chemical powder, carbon dioxide, foam and wet chemical. Australian Standard AS 1851 requires portable fire extinguishers be inspected every 6 months (two times per year) and, being a pressure vessel there are requirements that they are inspected and pressure tested (like an LPG cylinder) every 5 years on the anniversary of their date of manufacture.
A gas storage container in AS1851 has the same meaning as a gas cylinder or pressure vessel and is used as part of a gaseous or pre-engineered fire suppression system. The Standard requires gas storage containers to be tested every 10 years from the date of the cylinder manufacture or the date from the first fill.