Essential Safety Measures in Victoria: What Building Owners Must Maintain Annually
Victoria's ESM regime parallels NSW's AFSS, with annual statements required for fire, smoke, egress, ventilation, and emergency lighting systems.
In this category →Commercial Property Inspection SoftwareEssential Safety Measures (ESM) are the building services and features that protect occupants in a fire or other emergency. In Victoria, the Building Regulations 2018 require building owners to maintain and report on ESM annually.
Typical ESM include fire detection and alarm systems, sprinkler systems, fire hydrants and hose reels, fire-rated walls and doors, exit signs and emergency lighting, smoke control systems, mechanical ventilation, paths of travel to exits, and required signage. Each measure has installed performance levels, usually documented in the original Occupancy Permit, that must be maintained.
The annual ESM report confirms that each measure has been inspected and tested at the required frequency by a competent person, and that it continues to perform to the installed level. The report must be made available on request to the relevant building surveyor, council, or fire authority.
The duty rests with the building owner, not the tenant or the building manager. Penalties for failing to maintain ESM or to keep proper records can include fines and, in serious cases, prosecution after an incident.
ESM is the Victorian analogue of the NSW Annual Fire Safety Statement regime. The intent is the same, keep life-safety systems working, but the procedural detail differs and owners with property in both states need to track both regimes separately.
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