Three high-rise sites lacking crucial fire safety equipment given rectification orders by QBCC

Gold Coast high-rise builders are continuing to flout fire safety rules, with three rapped on the knuckles for brazenly risking the lives of construction workers and the general public.

Fires during construction of highrise buildings can pose significant risks to workers, the public and emergency services.

GOLD Coast high-rise builders are continuing to flout fire safety rules, with three rapped on the knuckles for brazenly risking the lives of construction workers and the general public.

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission has revealed it issued three directions to rectify noncompliance at sites in Surfers Paradise, Southport and Palm Beach late last year.

The QBCC said the sites lacked firefighting equipment including extinguishers, operational hydrants, hose reels and booster connection points, as well as issues with fire-separating walls.

The regulator declined to be more specific about which projects, builders or dates the infringements involved.

QBCC Commissioner Brett Bassett said fire could be a significant risk during construction, due to activities such as welding, cutting or grinding of steel.

“We issued the directions because noncompliance with fire-safety requirements is potentially dangerous for workers on site and for passers-by, and we will not tolerate such unacceptable risks,” he said.

“The equipment that was missing included operational hydrants and booster connection points. This is not something that could have simply been overlooked.”

The space where a hydrant booster was supposed to be. Photo: Supplied

After the booster was installed. Photo: Supplied

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Subsequent QBCC inspections confirmed that all identified fire-safety issues had since been rectified by the relevant builders.

The revelations follow an incident in October when the QBCC issued a show-cause notice threatening to shut down a Gold Coast construction site after finding fire hydrants and hose reels were missing from the site, and firefighting booster connections had not been installed.

Although the directions to rectify the breaches will appear on the companies’ publicly available QBCC licence, the nature of the directions are not recorded publicly by the QBCC.

Court-imposed fines of more than $163,000 for a company and more than $32,000 for an individual can apply for failing to rectify such issues.