Regulation Impact Statement for Consultation– Australian Building Codes Board
In March 2016, the Australian Buildings Codes Board (ABCB) released a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) which examines ways to address the risk to building occupants in the case of fire on the balcony of a residential building. Under current Australian Standard exemptions, residential buildings are not required to have fire sprinklers on balconies if the balcony does not exceed a certain size. It is possible that this could pose a risk to building occupants in the event of a balcony fire. The options considered in the Consultation RIS propose either reducing the scope of the exemptions, or removing the exemptions for certain classes of residential buildings. The Consultation RIS has been approved by the OBPR. Consultations are now open and will close on 26 April 2016. If you wish to provide feedback on the analysis within the RIS, please send an email to abcbris@abcb.gov.au with the subject title “Fire Sprinkler RIS”.
