Regulatory priority: Product safety

What we know:

• Product accreditation schemes such as Codemark and WaterMark are designed to provide confidence that a building or plumbing product meets the requirements of the National Construction Code (NCC) or is fit for purpose.
• The use of non-compliant or non-conforming building and plumbing products and/or inappropriate use of products or materials can affect the quality, liveability and safety of buildings.
• Monitoring the use of non-compliant or non-conforming products needs to be industry wide and be more effective.

What we expect:

• Practitioners must only use compliant products and materials for the purposes they are designed and intended and that meet legislative and NCC requirements, Australian Standards and manufacturer instructions.
• Practitioners must maintain knowledge of legislation, regulations, codes and standards relevant to the work they are registered/licensed to undertake.

What we have done:

• Published a Code of Conduct for Building Surveyors with all Relevant Building Surveyors (RBSs) to comply with the code which makes it clear that building surveyors must act within the public interest, comply with the law, act with integrity and avoid conflicts of interest including having knowledge of compliant building products and materials as well as correct use of building products.

• Issued information fact sheets on aluminium composite panels, expanded polystyrene (EPS) and product identification of combustible cladding.

• Regularly published media releases to generate public awareness on the importance of buying products that are certified and authorised for use in Australia (i.e. WaterMark trademarked products, non-combustible cladding, compliant pool barriers and non-compliant roof).

• Completed a series of National Construction Code (NCC) roadshows across Victoria to ensure practitioners are up to date with the 2022 NCC changes, including requirements for products and materials for use in the design and construction of buildings.

• Continued to focus on the use of suitable and authorised products and undertook repeated and decisive action against practitioners who have approved or installed non-compliant, unauthorised or defective products and materials and provide details of prosecution outcomes in Annual Reports and our disciplinary register.

• Provided a product safety recall for recreational vehicle (RV) water heaters.

• Issued practice notes on:
  • solar water heaters
  • adoption of NCC 2022 which includes updates on requirements for low lead plumbing products and use of non-combustible elements in external wall systems
  • requirements for smoke alarms based on building classes including a specific one for class 1a buildings
  • plumbing product requirements, including those for rainwater, recycled water, roof plumbing, cold water and hot water.

• Published information and provided communications on plumbing products that are required to meet the requirements of the WaterMark Certification Scheme to ensure products and materials are fit for purpose and appropriately authorised for use in plumbing applications.

• Published safety guides and information for consumers that includes information on correct installation and use of products such as basketball rings, smoke alarms, wood heaters and flues, swimming pool barriers, essential safety measures (ESMs) and safety of gas appliances in relation to carbon monoxide.

• Established an Industry Harms Consultative Committee (IHCC) (page 57) to provide a forum to enable ongoing dialogue with key industry stakeholders on the regulatory priorities as well as emerging harms, risks and issues in the built environment and to seek insights on approaches and opportunities to best address these.

• Conducted or supported research on:
  • fire safety of rendered expanded polystyrene (EPS), which resulted in a prohibition on the use of the external wall cladding products ACP and EPS for any building work in connection with buildings of Type A and Type B construction.
  • the establishment of an Australian Technical Evaluation Network (ATEN) to find a way to better evaluate building products by providing independent and verifiable technical information to promote the use of appropriate and safe building products in construction.
  • the automated tracking of construction materials for improved supply chain logistics and provenance by Building 4.0 Cooperative Research Centre in order to achieve improved product safety, more accessible product information, quality assurance and regulatory compliance.
  • recommendations for regulatory reform to ensure that the benefits of industrialised construction (including offsite manufacturing and assembly of building components that are transported to site for installation) can be realised while ensuring that consumers and building occupants enjoy a safe and compliant built environment.