Re: Will we see a mass evacuation of flats here?

@Paul Ritchie said:
I wish people who comment on catastrophes would first get some facts before comparing to other buildings and especially other countries. I am a Civil Engineer and the Chairman of the SC in our complex.

Yes, and I wish experts would realise that their experience is not universal before they make rude comments … but, hey, this is strata and all opinions are equal – it’s just that some are more equal than others.

Here are the facts:

We don’t know how many buildings in Australia have dangerous cladding but we do know there are a hell of a lot.

We do know that buildings are supposed to (i.e. “MUST”) have adequate fire safety measures in place but we also know that in some buildings (where Paul is not the chair) these are deficient, untested and routinely ignored.

We also know that there has been a major cladding fire in Australia and it occurred in a building where basic commonsense safety rules, like not cramming all your goods and chattels on to your balcony and not ramming as many students as you can into the available floor space, were ignored.

We have also seen fatalities and serious injuries where internal fire safety measures were ignored or avoided by the developers.

I too live in a building where fire safety regulations are observed and maintained punctiliously.  However, I have seen blocks that not only had emergency fire sprinklers that were not attached to a water supply, but which had been approved by fire safety checks at least 10 times.

Just a random search of the internet will find dozens of examples of fire safety “MUSTS” that don’t measure up.

Take this quote from an American plumbing contractors website:

My experiences have taught me that the standard could be effective — if it was enforced and used in its entirety. I use the word “could” because one of the significant fallacies … is its premise: that all sprinkler systems are designed, installed, tested and inspected correctly when they are installed or remodeled. But they are not!

Now, maybe American plumbers are less diligent than ours, but I doubt it.

In an ideal world we would all be safe, regardless of the kind of cladding we had on our exterior walls.  But it’s not an ideal world and we know that some developers, tradies, inspectors and residents can’t find a corner without wanting to cut it.

So yes, Paul, as you say “we should be targeting compliance with the BCA and for OC’s to ensure the fire systems are properly maintained.”

And as Anthony says (in item 6) we have to rely on the professionals.  But not all professionals are reliable and, more to the point, owners corporations can’t be depended upon to be super-diligent if it means it will cost owners money.

If you want to hear more experts’ views, CLICK HERE and listen to the guys who called in to the James Valentine radio show. That is truly scary stuff.