Cladding A Major Safety Risk

The deadly Grenfell tower fire in London is a grim warning for Australia. In October, Four Corners revealed that Australian suppliers were aware of the risks associated with using polyethylene (PE) cladding on high-rise buildings, but they continued to import and sell it. Now the Victorian Cladding Taskforce has released an interim report with tough recommendations. Could your building be at risk?

Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) began to be imported into Australia in the late 1970s. Unfortunately, whilst Australian suppliers were aware that the product they were selling with a polyethylene (PE) core was highly flammable, they continued to import it.

Architects loved the product because of its versatility, light weight and modern look and it quickly became widely used. By the early 2000's it was gracing new high-rise developments, apartment blocks in Docklands in Melbourne and several public buildings such as the Fremantle Maritime Museum.

Ambiguous Standards Combined With Poor Enforcement

Four Corners highlighted that ambiguous standards combined with poor enforcement led to a situation where the cheaper PE core cladding continued to be installed on medium and high-rise buildings in Australia until 2013. This means that many buildings are clad in material that would fail the main test used to determine combustibility.

Victorian Cladding Taskforce Interim Report

On Friday 1 December, 2018, the Victorian Government released an interim report from the Cladding Taskforce and outlined the recommendations. In summary, combustible cladding is such an issue that the Government is taking action as part of the most significant overhaul of the building sector in decades.

Actions being taken include:

• Appointing a State Building Inspector who is a leading expert in cladding
• Restricting the use of Aluminium Composite Panels (ACP) with a polyethylene (PE) core and the use of expanded polystyrene (EPS) in Victoria on buildings above 2 storeys
• Increasing the amount of worksites and buildings inspected each year by the VBA (Victorian Building Authority) - from less than 2% to up to 10%
• Appointing a Special Adviser to the Minister

Richard Wynne, Minister for Planning said "We're taking action to overhaul the building industry and prevent the use of combustible cladding. We're giving the VBA the tools it needs to complete an unprecedented audit and we'll crack down on those who flout the rules."

JTA Introduces External Cladding Assessment

Following the Grenfell fire incident and the subsequent publicity around cladding, we received numerous calls in the space of one week from a variety of organisations requesting a cladding audit on their buildings. It quickly became apparent to us that many Australian companies are wanting to get their buildings audited to see if they've used aluminium composite cladding with a polyethylene (PE) core which is highly flammable.

A new service, External Cladding Assessment, has now been introduced by JTA to meet the needs of our clients requiring a fire risk assessment of their buildings. In order to have the right skills to conduct these audits our Consultants have received training by specialist Fire Engineers and we now consider ourselves experts. We are confident we can identify any risks and recommend the appropriate action needed to make sure your workplaces are safe.

This service will be of interest to clients with buildings built after 2000 which could have cladding with an aluminium polyethylene (PE) core which is potentially highly flammable. Schools, Councils, Property Management Companies, Aged Care Facilities, Hospitals and Emergency Services are just some of the organisations who may wish to take advantage of this service.

Our External Cladding Assessment can be commissioned on its own or in conjunction with an Asbestos or Hazardous Materials Audit. It will report on the presence of aluminium polyethylene (PE) core and other significant fire risks.

Our External Cladding Assessment Includes:

• Review of external cladding of all buildings
• Review of available external cladding documentation held by the organisation
• Report on the presence and extent of combustible aluminium/polyethylene composite panelling or other significant fire risk external cladding products
• Referral of any identified combustible aluminium/polyethylene composite panelling or other significant fire risk external cladding products to a fire engineer for quoting on specific risk assessment and determination of compliance with the BCA of the cladding product

If there is any doubt what so ever in your mind about whether your workplace is safe or whether it contains hazardous cladding, take advantage of our specialised new service. Our consultants are trained and ready to go!

If there is any doubt what so ever in your mind about whether your workplace is safe or whether it contains hazardous cladding, take advantage of our specialised new service. Our consultants are trained and ready to go!