What does an APFS do?

The Fire Protection Association of Australia (FPAA) has established a Government recognised accreditation scheme for Fire Safety Practitioners. It is now mandatory for an Accredited Practitioner (Fire Safety) – APFS, (formerly known as Competent Fire Safety Practitioner – CFSP), to be accredited via this scheme as “Fire Safety Assessors” for the endorsement of Annual Fire Safety Statements.

The FPAA have drafted a set of duties for the role of a Fire Safety Assessor. According to the FPAA’s draft scope of work, it is the responsibility of an Accredited Practitioner (Fire Safety) to:

• Determine the required standard of performance from the approved design (original approved documents, fire safety schedule, baseline data, or building manual where these are available).
• Review and compare with routine service records to identify if Essential Fire Safety Measures (EFSM) are capable of operating to the required standard of performance and if any non-conformances or defects have been rectified.
• Review and verify the specific system interface functionality and operation between EFSM required by Australian Standards, the National Construction Code or legislation in order to consider routine service records holistically.
• Conduct a visual inspection, or review a report of a visual inspection, undertaken to the degree necessary, to identify if an EFSM has been inappropriately altered or compromised by changes in the occupancy, environment or building in the last 12 months.
• Review and verify the performance test results obtained through AS 1851-2012 routine service or other routine service methodology, where AS 1851 does not apply.
• Inspect signage, means of egress, exits, exit doors and discharge from exits.
• Provide an assessment report to the owner detailing the assessment conducted, findings and recommendations.
• Provide a declaration that each Essential Fire Safety Measure has been assessed and when assessed was:
  a) Capable of performing to the relevant standard of performance; or
  b) Not capable of performing to the relevant standard of performance.
• Endorse the assessment for the Annual or Supplementary Fire Safety Statement as per Section 88 of the EP&A Regulation.