At its meeting of 14 December 2016 the Building Ministers' Forum (BMF) agreed to a comprehensive package of measures to improve fire safety in high rise buildings.
The comprehensive package of measures, which includes measures that Ministers previously requested the ABCB to implement, seek to:
- Reference a contemporary and rigorous testing standard, developed based on international best practice, for full scale testing of the fire performance of external façade systems, which is particularly relevant for new and innovative systems.
- Provide rigorous, contemporary and clear Code requirements to improve application and compliance.
- Provide practitioners with the tools and supporting material to support Code compliance.
- Increase industry awareness of the need to be cognisant to the potential risks associated with non-compliance.
- Enhance on-site checking, auditing and enforcement.
The BMF communiqué is available from the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Innovation and Science website.
