A Fire Engineering Report (FER) is a result or findings of a Performance-based Assessment completed by a Fire Safety Engineer often at the building design stage. It begins as a Performance-Based Design Brief (PBDB) which facilitates project stakeholder engagement, generally at the building design stage.
The FER typically contains an engineering assessment to address nominated departures for the Building Code prescriptive provisions, also referred to as Deemed-to-Satisfy, or DTS Provisions. Building Certifiers will request that the FER is to be completed before they can issue building approvals. The Building Certifiers’ obligations in relation to FERs are outlined within the respective State’s Legislation.
It must be noted that in all FERs, it will be stated that the report is to be treated as a Fire Safety Measure, a copy must be kept onsite at all times and the requirements of the FER are to be added to be building fire safety schedule. The terminology will vary from State to State, but the point is that the FER becomes an integral part of the building maintenance and management documentation and is not just a document required for approval.
The FER, will stimpulate that, should there be any changes to the building, such as a change in use or layout, the FER will need to be reviewed and its validity confirmed by an accredited Fire Safety Engineer.
It can become problematic and expensive for a building owner if the FER is lost. The issues will include the following:
- The building will not be able to be issued with the annual fire safety statement or occupier’s statement;
- Approval documentation can be delayed or not issued at all, should there be planned alterations to the building;
- Expensive building rectification may be imposed on the building owners because a design feature or installation is identified to be non-compliant with the DTS Provisions of the Building Code at some point in time.
Building owners are obliged to maintain the fire safety equipment in the building to its original standard of performance. The FER is one of those standards of performance, therefore a copy of the FER must be made available on request for the life of the building.
The easiest way of storing documents onsite is either within the fire control room/centre, or within the Fire Indicator Panel. If neither of these are available, they should be stored in a specifically installed documentation box . A copy should also be with the Strata Manager and the fire safety maintenance contractor.
To learn more about this, CJK Fire & Safety education have developed several short online courses:
NSW Fire Safety Statement & Building Fire Safety
QLD Occupier Statement & Building Fire Safety
Fire Safety Documents and the Importance of Filing
If you require a Fire Engineering Report to be developed, please contact CJK today.