Fire doors are one of the essential fire safety measures in almost every strata building in NSW, and keeping them compliant falls to the owners corporation. In practice it usually lands on the strata manager. This checklist sets out what to have on file, what to book and when, and what to watch for between inspections. There’s a one-page version to print and keep with the building’s records.
Have these on file
- The fire safety schedule. It lists the building’s essential fire safety measures, including its fire doors, and the standard each one has to meet.
- The last annual fire safety statement, and the date the next one is due to council.
- The fire door manual and door schedule, if one was handed over when the doors were installed or replaced. It lists every fire door, where it is, its rating and its hardware. A paper copy should be kept on site.
- The AS 1851 service records from every inspection. They must be kept on site, and available, for at least seven years.
- The latest condition report, the yearly summary from the service provider.
Every six months: the routine inspection
- Book the AS 1851-2012 inspection of the fire doors. Every six months is the baseline. The front doors of individual apartments (sole-occupancy units, or SOUs) can be extended to once every 12 months. Sliding fire doors are every three months.
- Make sure the inspector can get to every door, including apartment front doors. Send residents the access notice early.
- Get the report, and check it lists each door, what was found and what’s recommended.
- Pass on any critical defect straight away. You should have been told before the technician left, and in writing within 24 hours.
- Get quotes for the defects, and ask which are a repair and which genuinely need a new door.
- Book the repairs. Aim to have critical defects fixed with minimum delay, and the rest before the next inspection.
- File the records on site.
Once a year: the annual fire safety statement
- Diarise the due date. The statement goes to council within 12 months of the last one.
- Book the assessment early. Every measure has to be assessed within the three months before the statement is signed, and any door that fails has to be fixed before it can be declared.
- Allow time for replacements. A new fire door is made to order, which takes weeks, not days.
- Once it’s signed, lodge a copy with council and Fire and Rescue NSW, and display a copy in the building.
Between inspections: a quick walk-round
None of this replaces the inspection, but it catches the commonest problems early.
- Fire doors are shut, not wedged, hooked or propped open.
- Let a door go from open: it closes and latches by itself.
- The closer is connected, and the door doesn’t slam or stick.
- Seals aren’t painted over or torn.
- Tags on the door edge and frame are there and readable.
- No new hardware: extra locks, deadbolts, chains or different handles.
- No new holes: peepholes, letterbox slots or cabling through the door or frame.
When something changes
- Before any work near a fire door, such as new flooring, painting, access control or a unit renovation, check whether it affects the door. Painting over seals and tags, and new flooring under doors, are both common causes of defects.
- When a resident asks to change their front door, its lock or its handle, check the change belongs to the door’s tested system before it’s approved.
- When a door is replaced, get the new tag details, the certificate and an updated door schedule for the file.
- When the service provider changes, make sure the records and door schedule are handed over, so the history isn’t lost.