Articles
Deemed to Satisfy Vs Performance Design
Our buildings are safer than ever before. We have equipment and systems installed that are essential to the safety of the occupants of the property. These give both Facilities Managers and the occupants peace of mind. They include fire protection systems like sprinklers and alarm detection systems, extinguishers, hose reels, mechanical systems like smoke spill […]
Form 3 Ticks the Safety Boxes
Hundreds of thousands of South Australians spend most of their days living, working and or shopping in our large buildings or complexes. Logistically the legal and safety requirements of managing such a facility is a huge task. In the past, owners of these buildings and their agents have not been required to declare and list […]
Best Essay Award / Strata Services Business
Give a brief overview of your company’s main business activities relevant to the membership with SCA. In 2000 the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service closed the division that inspected and tested fire equipment. Our founding Director Robert (Bob) Short worked there and his customers approached him and asked him to keep providing the service as […]
Riverland Fire & Safety / Fire and Emergency Services wins two awards
When the Strata Communities Association recently hosted their annual awards dinner, things were back to normal when it came to revealing the winner of the Strata Services Business Award. Fire and Emergency Services won the prestigious prize for the third time in four years. Only in 2020 did someone else win and for a good […]
Home, sweet ……… workplace
COVID forced FESSA to ask employees to work from home. It became such a success that the company no longer has a physical address. Lower costs, fewer interruptions, less noise, increased productivity, happier employees and management! It might sound almost too good to be true, but in short, that is the result of FESSA cancelling […]
New planning reform shares maintenance responsibilities
A completely new Form 3 – ESP Maintenance Certificate calls for maintenance contractors to co-sign reduces building owners’ risk of legal liabilities The SA State Government has initiated a new planning reform which has updated the development application process for new buildings in metropolitan Adelaide. A major part of the reform is a new version […]
Contingency Planning – What do you do after an accidental activation of a fire sprinkler system.
Fire Sprinkler Systems are one of the most effective ways of minimising property damage and the risk to life from a fire. In a future article we will talk about how they work, but this article will focus on what to do after a sprinkler system has been activated. There are two ways that this […]
New Planning and Development Legislation
This year the Development Act 1993 will no longer be operational and will be replaced with the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016.The new Act and Regulations make a number of changes to the whole planning and development system, the main change is the new digital “ePlanning” system. Staged Implementation The Act is being phased […]
FREE Webinar – Emerging technology that will save lives.
COVID-19, unexpected and unpredictable – forcing us to be dynamic and adaptable in not only our personal, but our professional being.Business has thinned and buildings which were once abundant with a professional workforce, now left partially occupied or completely empty. Fire M is a fire alarm notification system that utilises IOT technology to interface with […]
COVID-19 Fire Maintenance Decision Model
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic there are a number of constraints on getting the fire equipment maintained in your building. At Riverland Fire and Safety we use the following decision making model to help. Our goal is to achieve as close to possible 100% compliance with the standards, however there are two factors influencing this, […]
What to plan for?
Our Managing Director, Alan Short teamed up with Nick Grice from First 5 Minutes to write a book about emergency planning. In chapter 2 they outline what are some of the emergencies to plan for and what are the responses to consider. For your FREE copy of their book “A Practical Guide to Emergency Planning: […]
Why do I need training for emergencies?
Why do I need training? Did you know that 85% of people do not respond to an emergency in a calm and orderly manner? Some freeze, some seem confused about what to do and others simply panic. The armed and emergency service know this and implement a strong training program to change a person’s automatic […]
What Legislation Do I Need to Comply With?
What Legislation Do I Need to Comply With? There are two Acts or pieces of legislation that govern fire protection installation and maintenance in South Australia, they are Development Act (1993) Work Health and Safety Act (2012) Who is responsible under the Act? The Development Act requires the building owner to install and maintain fire […]
The most awarded Fire Maintenance Company in South Australia
In 2018 and 2019 Fire & Emergency Services SA won the Strata Community Associations Support Business of the Year award and were also finalist in the Fire Protection Company of the Year Award for the Fire Protection Industry. The Strata Communities Association give out an annual award to companies that provide services to the strata […]
He’s on a podcast!
Our Managing Director was a guest on The Kate Russell Podcast. Kate is a conflict and team building coach who Fire & Emergency Services SA have used to help improve team communication. We can’t recommend her highly enough. This conversation a great conversation between her and our Managing Director, Alan Short. Enjoy https://theconflictcoach.com.au/2020/02/03/episode-20-alan-short/ […]
Why care about accreditation?
Australian Standards for testing fire equipment requires that the testing be completed by a competent person. So how do you, the client, know if someone is competent? Licenses There are some equipment that you are required to be licensed to test, they include: Fire sprinkler systems Fire hose reels Fire pumps Fire Hydrant systems Gaseous […]
Apples and Oranges
Getting a new price for the maintenance of your fire equipment could mean your comparing apples with oranges. What does that mean? The saying goes that you cannot compare apples to oranges, why, because they are different fruit. The same goes when buying a product or service, you need to define what you want so […]
How does a fire extinguisher work?
Fire extinguishers are a portable piece of equipment designed to extinguish small fires. They are hand held and designed for first attack fire fighting. They are often used by the Fire Service to extinguish small fires so as to minimize damage from fire hoses. There are different types of fire extinguishers based on the extinguishing […]
New License of Testing of Fire Equipment
New License of testing of fire equipment! Does your provider have one? The department of Consumer and Business Services has introduced a new license for the inspection and testing of water based fire systems. So what are water based fire protection systems? These are systems like Fire sprinkler systems Fire pumpsets Fire hydrants and boosters […]
Fire Fighters Toolkit – What Is It?
There are three parts to the response to a fire in a building or workplace. The first is a reaction to the fire while it is still small by the on-site staff or tenants. If this occurs well then the fire is extinguished before any real damage is done. It is estimated that there are […]
Donation to help against domestic abuse
Did you know that during 2016 in South Australia 8,401 victims reported occasions of domestic violence? Did you know that there were 19 domestic violence homicides in South Australia during 2016? We didn’t until we spoke with one of our customers at our Riverland Fire and Safety. With four specialist domestic violence services in […]
Price is not the only factor
A simple method to account for non-price related factors when evaluating quotations. When we get a quotation for some work we often just look at the price to determine what option to choose. However, when we know the service we want and we have spent time with each of the providers we often don’t choose […]
Is your car, van or truck a workplace?
What type of fire and safety equipment do you need in a work vehicle? We all know what Work Health and Safety (WHS) control measures we need to put in place for our workshop, office, warehouse, factory or shop. But what about vehicles such as cars, vans and trucks? This article is our recommendations on […]
House Fire! Have I lost my home?
I can guarantee that every day in South Australia there is a fire in a home. Some of these result in the fires that we hear about on the evening news while others are small fires, often while cooking, which are extinguished without the involvement of the Fire Service. Most people have two incorrect […]
Air BnB – what are the risks?
The Strata Community Association had a seminar on the implications of running Short Stay Accommodation in a building controlled as a Community Corporation. Some Definitions Short stay accommodation is typically 1 night through to 2 months. Think about when you go on holiday to another city or town. The accommodation you say in is […]
Emergency Plans – Who needs them?
The Questions We often get asked two questions: Do I need to have an Emergency Plan and Evacuation Diagrams? I’m a tenant in a larger building, do I need to prepare the Emergency Plan and Evacuation Diagrams or does the Landlord/Owner/Strata Manager? This article will provide an answer to both of these […]
New License for Testing Fire Equipment
In the second part of 2017 the State Government’s department of Consumer and Business Services released its intention to create a new registration (license) for the inspection and testing of fire suppression systems connected or potentially connected to portable water services Follow this link to the Consumer and Business Services (CBS) website announcing this registration […]
What the Storz is going on?
In July the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service (SAMFS) released a letter advising the fire industry that they were recommending Storz fittings for all hydrants. Click here to download a copy of the letter. So what does that mean? Before we talk about the impacts on your sites let’s understand what the change is. London Round […]
What type of Fire Extinguisher do I need?
In this modern world we still don’t have a fire extinguisher that can put out every type of fire. For many of you reading this the idea that there are different types of fire is a new concept – isn’t fire just fire? No its not, it’s a little more complicated than that. This article […]
Lessons from the Grenfell Tower Fire in London June 2017
Have a Plan B! The Grenfell Tower was a 24 storey high rise residential apartment building housing up to 600 people. It only had a single stairwell to be used as an emergency exit. The stairwell was compromised (full of smoke) leaving residents with no safe alternative. What is your Plan B? Stay in Place […]
What does my insurance company expect me to do?
We often get asked questions like “why do I need to get my extinguishers serviced”. One of the common responses given from the industry is that it’s a requirement for your insurance. I have often wondered about the validity of this comment, so in response I have interviewed Kim from Alan Wilson Insurance Brokers about […]
