MP 6.1 is what makes an owner act. It puts the duty on the occupier, sets the standards, and demands an annual signed declaration. Learn this module and you can open any commercial conversation in Queensland.
QDC MP 6.1 — Commissioning and maintenance of fire safety installations
Version 1.3 · published 6 May 2014 · commenced 1 July 2014 · jurisdiction QLD
Application — maintenance
Applies to the maintenance of fire safety installations for all buildings EXCEPT a Class 1a building, a Class 10 building associated with a Class 1a building, and buildings treated as part of a coal mine or a mine under the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 or the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999.
Application — commissioning
For commissioning, the same exclusions apply except the mine exclusion — the coal mine / mine carve-out does not apply to commissioning.
The five performance criteria and acceptable solutions
P is the outcome the law wants. A is the pre-approved way to achieve it.
P1 / A1
Testing and maintenance
Performance criterion
Prescribed fire safety installations must be maintained by appropriately qualified persons so that they perform to a standard no less than that originally required.
Acceptable solution
A1(a) — Maintenance of a prescribed fire safety installation, other than a passive fire safety installation, a fire blanket or emergency lighting, complies with AS 1851:2012.
A1(b) — Maintenance of a passive fire safety installation listed in Schedule 1 complies with that schedule.
A1(c) — Maintenance of emergency lighting complies with AS/NZS 2293.2:1995.
A1(d) — Where an alternative solution specifies maintenance criteria inconsistent with the above, the alternative solution prevails to the extent of the inconsistency.
Why the BDM cares: Three different rule sets in one criterion. Get this right in the quote and you differentiate immediately: AS 1851 for most assets, Schedule 1 for passive, AS/NZS 2293.2 for emergency lighting, and fire blankets carved out.
QDC MP 6.1 P1 / A1
P2 / A2
Records kept by the occupier
Performance criterion
Occupiers must keep maintenance records so that the occupier, appropriately qualified persons, local government officers and QFD authorised officers can check compliance.
Acceptable solution
Maintenance records are kept by the occupier and made available for checking.
The occupier completes an occupier statement within one year of taking up occupation, and then yearly within one year of the last statement.
Occupier statements are kept with the maintenance records for two years.
Why the BDM cares: This is the hook. Every commercial occupier in Queensland signs an annual declaration listing every fire asset. Ask to see last year's one.
QDC MP 6.1 P2 / A2
P3 / A3
Procedure for commissioning and maintenance of water-based installations
Performance criterion
Commissioning and maintenance of water-based fire safety installations must follow the relevant procedure and the relevant standard.
Acceptable solution
The department's 'Fire hydrant and sprinkler system commissioning and periodic maintenance procedure' is used where applicable, together with the relevant standard.
Why the BDM cares: Water-based work in QLD is not just the standard — it is the standard plus the departmental procedure.
QDC MP 6.1 P3 / A3
P4 / A4
Form
Performance criterion
The relevant form must be completed for water-based commissioning and maintenance work, and provided to the right party in time.
Acceptable solution
Form 71 — fire hydrant and sprinkler system commissioning.
Form 72 — fire hydrant and sprinkler system periodic testing and maintenance.
A copy is given within 10 business days to the building owner (commissioning) or the building occupier (maintenance).
Why the BDM cares: Ask whether their current provider issues Form 72 within 10 business days. Most owners have never received one.
QDC MP 6.1 P4 / A4
P5 / A5
Retention by the tester
Performance criterion
The appropriately qualified person must retain a record of the form.
Acceptable solution
A record of the relevant form is kept for at least 5 years after completing the work.
Why the BDM cares: Retention sits with the contractor, not the owner — a reason to use a company that will still exist and still hold the records in 5 years.
QDC MP 6.1 P5 / A5
Procedures and pass/fail criteria are in the licensed standard. FVS technicians work from the controlled copy.
Water-based installations — the extra paperwork
Water-based fire safety installation means sprinklers (including wall-wetting sprinklers) and fire hydrants (including hydrant boosters).
Step 1Water-based
Step 2Relevant procedure
Step 3Form 71 / Form 72
Step 410 business days
Step 55 year retention
QDC MP 6.1 A3, A4, A5
Schedule 1 — passive fire safety installation frequencies
In Queensland these frequencies override AS 1851's own frequencies for these passive items. The activities themselves remain in the licensed standard.
Passive fire safety installation maintenance frequencies by building class under QDC MP 6.1 Schedule 1
Passive item
Clause
Class 5, 6, 9a, 9c
All other classes
Fire-resistant doorsets — hinged and pivoted
Cl 12.4.3.1
Six-monthly
Yearly
Fire-resistant doorsets — horizontal sliding
Cl 12.4.3.2
Six-monthly
Yearly
Smoke doors (hinged and pivoted) and solid core doors
Cl 12.4.4
Six-monthly
Yearly
Fire shutters
Cl 12.4.5
Six-monthly
Yearly
Sales angle: If you are talking to an office, a shop, a hospital or an aged care home, their door frequency is double everyone else's. That is twice the visits and twice the chance of finding work.
QDC MP 6.1 Schedule 1AS 1851-2012 §12
Procedures and pass/fail criteria are in the licensed standard. FVS technicians work from the controlled copy.
The #1 sales hook
Schedule 2 — the occupier statement
Every commercial building occupier in Queensland must sign an annual declaration listing every fire asset and confirming it has been maintained. Ask the prospect to show you last year's one. If they can't produce it, or it has blanks, that is your opening.
For each installation the statement records the nominated Australian Standard or relevant maintenance requirements, whether a critical defect notice was issued during the period, and the date of rectification.
Copies of critical defect notices and proof of rectification must be attached to the statement.
Rows may be deleted for installations that are not present in the building.
The statement goes to the Queensland Fire Department — occupier.statements@fire.qld.gov.au.
A body corporate must decide who is authorised to sign the statement on its behalf.
Walk the client through it — tick what is present in the building
Saved on this device only. This is a conversation aid, not the statutory form.
Associated legislation
Building Act 1975
The head act for building work and classification in Queensland; s37 governs which standard applies to an existing building.
National Construction Code (BCA + PCA)
Sets the classification system and what installations a building needed when it was built — your benchmark for 'no less than originally required'.
Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008
The enforcement teeth around maintenance.
s50 — maintenance must comply with MP 6.1. s54 — the occupier must ensure work is done by an appropriately qualified person. s55 — mandatory record-keeping.
Building Regulation 2006
Adopts the Queensland Development Code, which is where MP 6.1 lives.
Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990 (administered by the Queensland Fire Department)
The at-all-times maintenance duty on the occupier.
s104D — the occupier of a building must maintain at all times every prescribed fire safety installation to a standard of safety and reliability in the event of fire. This duty goes beyond the scheduled tables: passing last month's test is not a defence if the asset is unreliable today.
Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991
Licensing. Determines who may lawfully carry out and certify each discipline of fire protection work.
Queensland Development Code
The instrument that contains MP 6.1 itself.
Planning regulation — referral agency role
QFD acts as a referral/concurrence agency for alternative solutions relating to the commissioning criteria P3–P5.
Licensing — who can legally touch what
An appropriately qualified person must hold the licence relevant to the work. Licences do not transfer across disciplines.
A plumber licensed by the Plumbing Industry Council for fire hydrants or sprinklers is NOT authorised to work on air handling systems unless they also hold the relevant QBCC licence.
Talk track: "Is your current provider actually licensed for all of this — passive, mechanical and water-based — or do they subcontract the parts they can't touch?" Ask to see the licence numbers against each discipline on their last report. Gaps here are the cleanest competitive displacement argument you have.
QDC MP 6.1 — appropriately qualified person; Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008 s54
Enforcement and consequences
Queensland Fire Department authorised officers can audit buildings and issue on-the-spot fines to occupiers who do not comply with their maintenance and record-keeping obligations.
Penalties apply for failing to maintain prescribed fire safety installations and for failing to keep the required records.
Where death or injury results from a failure to maintain, imprisonment is among the possible consequences.
Enforcement lands on the occupier, not on the contractor — which is exactly why the occupier cares.
Do not quote dollar figures. Penalty amounts change with the penalty unit value — point the client to the regulation and to their own legal advice.
Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990 s104D