Australian Essential Services Group (AESG) - Essential Safety Measures - Formerly referred to as Essential Safety Services

What are Essential Safety Measures?

ESM are the fire and life safety items installed or constructed in a building to ensure adequate levels of fire safety over the life of the building.

ESM include all traditional building fire services such as sprinklers, mechanical services etc., but also include passive fire safety such as fire doors, fire rated structure etc. and other building infrastructure items such as paths of travel to exits.

ESM only apply to buildings constructed on or after 1 July 1994.

Why do they need to be maintained?

The objective of maintenance is to ensure that every ESM continues to perform at the same level of operation that existed at time of commissioning and issue of the occupancy permit.

The maintenance of ESM involves:

Ensuring the service is maintained at a level of performance specified by the relevant building surveyor. (Usually to the Building Code of Australia (BCA) or an Australian Standard.)
Periodical inspections and checks in accordance with an Australian Standard of specific method.
Maintaining a record of the maintenance inspections and checks in the form of an annual "ESM report".

Reasons for ensuring maintenance of various services:

General wear and tear — i.e. electro-magnetic hold open devices on fire doors, shut down of air conditioning system in fire situation, replacement of emergency lighting batteries and tubes.

Reliability of a system operating — i.e. sprinkler system, mechanical ventilation system (used as a smoke hazard management system), early warning and intercommunication system.

Faults after commissioning of a system — i.e. emergency power supply.

General housekeeping — i.e. ensure paths of travel to exits are not obstructed, fire protective coverings are maintained, portable fire extinguishers remain in place.

What Buildings require maintenance of Essential Safety Measures?

The maintenance of essential safety measures applies to Class 1b, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 buildings as defined in the BCA. These classifications include multi-storey residential buildings, hotels/motels, offices, shops, warehouses, factories and hospitals/public buildings respectively.

Part 12 of the Building Regulations 2006(regulations) prescribe the requirement for maintenance of buildings and is divided into two divisions; buildings that were built before 1 July 1994 and buildings that were built after 1 July 1994.

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