More than 450,000 rental properties in Queensland are affected by new smoke alarm laws, which could see landlords paying up to $2000 for new smoke alarms – or risk being unable to tenant their dwellings. Every rental property in Queensland must meet the new smoke alarm rules by 31st December 2021; to meet this deadline,…

Australia’s first passive house built to the highest bushfire rating has been unveiled in the midst of an early start to the bushfire season, as experts gather to advise residents on fire safety. Key points: – Home builders have designed and built an eco-friendly passive home that meets the development requirements for the highest bushfire…

A Mandurah tradie has been hailed a hero after he saved an elderly woman from a raging house fire on Tuesday night. Darren Kyle Hunter smashed a glass door and rushed inside the home, risking his own life, to drag the unconscious 60-year-old resident outside of the inferno. “I could hear something or someone inside…

At least one home has been destroyed and there are fears for several others as fire crews deal with a bushfire emergency at Laidley in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane. As at 6:55pm, the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) changed its bushfire warning for Grandchester and Laidley to “prepare to leave — watch…

Melbourne’s Neo200 building was plagued by safety failures including fire alarms that didn’t work, a lack of fire-rated doors and a flat battery inside the building’s crucial fire indicator panel, a key fire investigator has revealed. While the 43-storey Neo200 tower only had 1.5 per cent of its facade covered in combustible polyethylene-core cladding and…

An elderly man has died and another left homeless after a ferocious fire tore through two duplex properties in Brisbane’s northern suburbs. Emergency fire crews were called to a home in Sandgate today after concerned neighbours noticed smoke streaming out from inside the property. “It was moving pretty fast – it all went up pretty…

Australia’s building and construction crisis will cost $6.2 billion in remediation and associated costs, according to new research commissioned by the construction union. The independent research by Equity Economics in collaboration with Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) analysed the additional costs to owners of remediating water leaks, fire safety breaches, structural failure…

Leaking, cracking, flammable and creaking: by now, most of us are aware of defects plaguing high-rise residential apartment towers. There is an urgent need to re-build public confidence in a sector which, through poor self-regulation, has churned out more and more homes needing costly repairs. Some are uninhabitable. But we should also be asking about…

Electrical contractors, electrical workers and metering providers involved in the roll out of smart meters must ensure that antenna/communication wiring systems are suitably segregated from electrical wiring in accordance with the Wiring Rules. Wiring systems must be selected and installed in a way to avoid any detrimental effects arising between: electrical installations and telecommunication/data cable…

During March and April 2019, the Electrical Licensing Committee held disciplinary hearings against four licence holders: 1. An electrical worker performed non-compliant electrical work without holding a contractor’s licence and left exposed live parts. The worker’s electrical work licence was immediately suspended until completion of a competency assessment. His external licence recognition provisions were suspended…