This article about the significance of garbage chutes in strata properties has been supplied by Bradley van Xanten, UOAQ President.
Often it’s the little things that get overlooked
We call our schemes ‘complexes’ because they are complex … and there is a lot for the committee to be aware of and keep on top of. It is so easy for things to slip below the radar. Especially things as seemingly mundane and insignificant as garbage chutes and their component parts.
A UOAQ member recently alerted us to a long-standing fire-safety risk at his 16-storied complex on the Sunshine Coast. The risk involved their garbage chutes – in particular, the cute little hopper doors opening into the garbage chute from each floor. A number were not working properly. Worse still, they had been like this for years.
Seemingly, no one realised that a garbage hopper door which does not self-close and self-latch becomes a fire hazard when left open. It was seen as just another low-level maintenance issue in an ageing building already troubled by mounting costs.
The risk was only identified when a comprehensive fire-safety inspection followed a Show Cause Notice from their local council about, amongst other things, unauthorised removal of fire doors from the bin room in the basement.
This news about the hoppers gave us pause for thought, mainly because bin rooms, garbage chutes, and their hopper doors are not something we have ever given much thought to…and we suspect that we are not the only ones unaware of their potential as fire hazards.
So we talked to the experts
The UOAQ approached Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) who confirmed there are rules – very important rules – about openings into garbage chutes.
QFES explained that In the event of fire, the chute can act as a chimney rising all the way from the bin room right up to the top floor. Any vertical shaft within a building is a fire hazard in itself, but worsened – in the case of garbage chutes – by fuelling it with combustible material, ie your garbage.
If the hopper door on your floor is open, the risk of fire and/or toxic fumes finding their way out from the chute and onto the level where you live would be obvious.
Think Grenfell, only this time it’s already inside your building.
Hence the rules in:
- Building Code of Australia (BCA) C3.13: eg the hoppers themselves must be non-combustible; and
- AS/NZS 1905.1:1997: Components for the protection of openings in fire-resistant walls: eg the door-sets in the hoppers must be self-closing and self-latching.
These self-activating safeguards are incorporated into the original build, so that you do not have to worry about closing the hoppers yourself. And therein lies the problem for the body corporate’s committee, ie ensuring the hoppers continue working properly. Especially when the building is ageing and things start stopping, eg little things like the self-closing and self-latching components of those hopper doors out there in your foyer.
We suspect that a lot of owners, including committees, are unaware of the importance of these hoppers and their significance for fire safety – and consequently do not appreciate the risk to:
- their property,
- their lives, and,
- their strata insurance cover if damage arises from a malfunctioning hopper.
The Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) advises all committees to ensure that the hopper doors opening into the garbage chute are regularly inspected and fully functional.
Bradley van Xanten
UOAQ President
Unit Owners Association of Queensland (UOAQ)
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This post appears in Strata News #472.
Have a question about the significance of garbage chutes in strata properties or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.
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This article has been republished with permission from the author and first appeared on the UOAQ website.
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This is an excellent article that should go national as it relates to the National Construction Code.
One should google the Hartford Hospital Fire in 1966 where a bin chute did catch fire and a hopper door flew open on the 9 th floor resulting in 16 deaths and changes to building standards we see today.