Do I need to consider system design as part of my maintenance agreement?

A friend of mine (Andrew) in Sydney (New South Wales) has asked me the following question;

Our client is telling me I need to sign off on the annual statement to the system performance standard.

Our contract is to maintain the equipment in accordance with AS1851.

My question is;

• Do I have to sign off to the performance standard being AS 1670 for example and if so does this make us liable for the whole building and where each detector is placed?
• Would I need to go around and measure distances and the like to certify the system?

Andrew, in New South Wales, building owners are required under Part 9 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000 to prepare an annual fire safety statement.

The intent of this statement is to ensure that essential safety measures also known as essential services are 'fit for purpose' and will operate as they were intended.

In practical terms this means that the design integrity i.e. spacings do need to be considered as part of the annual audit of the fire alarm & detection system. In addition, maintenance contractors also need to consider changes in use, occupancy and other factors that may affect the performance of the system.

This example illustrates one of the changes to the intent of AS1851 which is now included in AS1851:2005.

In terms of annual statements, another consideration from Appendix D - Sample Annual System Condition Report which can be found in the Appendix section of AS1851:2005. You might consider this as part of your solution to customers.

There has been some discussion amongst those who participate in the development of AS1851:2005 to give consideration to not only the design standard (in this case AS1670) but other design standards including performance based designs. Currently each section of AS1851:2005 referrers to the applicable design standard, and this may change with future amendments.

So bottom line... Maintenance companies should consider the additional skills, time and resources required to complete annual maintenance statements (no matter what state). This will no doubt add to the cost to provide these services to building owners.

Hopefully this gives you some more information on the subject.

Regards,

Russ