FOCUS
Building risks
◊ Creating a trigger point for when an older building must upgrade its standard of fire and life safety. If its B-FLSR is at a dangerously low level, mandatory upgrades would be applied, with a suitable period of time applied to ensure that this is achievable.
◊ Providing governments and councils with a standardised system to help enhance fire and life safety in the large volume of ageing buildings.
◊ Providing certain consumer groups with a guide to what type of fire and life safety building suits their needs. A person with a mobility impairment might consider the higher B-FLSR to be of a high priority.
◊ Certain higher risk building types for care of the aged, student accommodation and government housing would be required to be built to a higher B-FLSR. Upgrades of older building types with high risk occupancy could be prioritised.
The B-FLSR is not aimed at identifying that current standards and building codes are not suitable; instead it highlights buildings constructed to meet the minimum standard. The community is completely reliant on the standards being suitable and, when applying this to older buildings, it is clear that changes to standards and building codes have occurred for a reason: •
there is currently little to no incentive for a building to go beyond minimum standards
•
there is no regulatory or other legal incentive for a building below a certain
34 JUNE 2019
www.frmjournal.com
height to install a significant item of fire protection (such as a sprinkler system), if it is not required by standards or codes
•
there is minimal incentive for a building to install occupant evacuation lifts aimed at enhancing evacuation for people with mobility challenges
•
there is no incentive to retrofit an older building, built to an older standard or code
New buildings would not necessarily receive a rating of 100, as they are usually built to meet the minimum standard.
Current rating systems
In recent years, rating systems have had an increasing impact on the decisions we make in all aspects of our lives. Increased accessibility to information through the use of the internet and mobile phones has opened up access to ratings, providing an opportunity to make informed decisions. Ratings are available for the food we eat, the school our children attend and the teachers at those schools, the airline we fly, the car we drive and the movie we view; yet there is no rating for the building we occupy to determine the fire and life safety. The B-FLSR could be modelled on and draw information from the following examples:
ANCAP Rating The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) rates new vehicles on safety from zero to five stars, providing the consumer with a choice based on an independent
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