The Australian Building Codes Board has decided that they will proceed with amending the Building Code of Australia to include requirements for private bushfire shelters.
The RIS recommended that on balance developing mandatory guidelines for voluntary construction was the best option as it involves testing and accreditation of suppliers of private bushfire shelters that would best address the information mismatch. While mandatory guidelines may impact on behavioural decisions to ‘stay or go’, these risks can be mitigated to an extent through information built into the mandatory standard which emphasises that a private fire shelter is an avenue of last resort and should not be used as a replacement to more effective bushfire mitigation strategies.
The Decision RIS has been approved by the OBPR
