The Lambert Report 

After an overdue need for change, Fire Safety Constructions applauds the NSW Government for the release of the final statutory report of the review of the Building Perfessionals Act 2005 (The Lambert Report) on 21st September 2016. The report addresses the Government’s response to 150 recommendations and the plans of action it will take to establish improvement within the building and development certification within NSW.

The Lambert Report was overseen by Michael Lambert and as part as “Strengthening Certification in NSW”. In May 2015 the Government released a discussion paper to the public, outlining the reviews purpose, background information and the protential issues. From there the major problems reducing the effectiveness of the buildings quality were identified.

Among many of the Government’s important fire safety reform responses, it was determined that it will:

• • Immediately strengthen fire safety certification for new and existing buildings.
  • Be required that only persons who are certified and accredited design, install, instruct and maintain fire safety systems.
  • Tighten the accuracy of the current system with “annual fire safety statement checks”.
  • Reinforce site inspections for certain building types.
  • Require only suitably trained and qualified persons install passive fire safety measures.

In practice we expect these reforms to improve fire safety outcomes and remove untrained and unlicensed contractors who still plague the industry. Fire Safety Constructions supports industry groups to assist in implementation and improved accreditation. For example we recently gained FPAS Accreditation for our individuals performing passive fire test and inspect work.

Fire Safety Constructions are looking forward to delivering the improved regulations as it will conclusively lead to increased quality of the buildings and most importantly to us, better fire safety outcomes for the community.

For more information on the NSW Government’s review of the Building Professionals Act 2005, visit here.