Fire safety in waste management facilities
May 5, 2022, by AFAC Built Environment and Planning Technical Group | v1.0 The purpose of this document is to provide guidance on fire safety in waste facilities that receive, store or process combustible waste material, including adequate provision for fire safety and facilitate safe fire service intervention to protect life, property and the environment. This does not apply to general waste or landfill but does include variable combustible recyclable materials.
Our guideline
(see full document attached below)
This guideline details the requirements of AFAC members for:
- consideration of fire safety during all stages of a waste facility including site selection, planning, design, assessment and operation
- fire safety systems to be adequate to the special hazards identified within a waste facility and which also meet the operational needs of firefighters
- safe storage and stockpiling of combustible waste material based on expected combustibility and maximum pile size
- workplace fire safety and emergency management planning, including procedures for the event of fire or emergency incident.
The intention of the document, when read, understood and applied is to reduce the likelihood and consequence of fire, assist with firefighting intervention and protect life, property and environment from fire.
This guideline applies to any waste facility within Australia and New Zealand involved in the storage, processing or resource recovery of combustible waste material.
This guideline applies to any proposed development of a waste facility that involves a change of building use or building work that intends to meet the National Construction Code (NCC).
Waste management facilities may include a complex range of processes and waste materials that require significantly different responses. As a result, this guideline does not cover all waste management facilities, specifically, it does
not apply to any waste facility, or areas of, that are being used for:
- landfill (but, may apply to a waste facility on the landfill site)
- composting, including in-vessel, green waste and anaerobic digestion
- liquid waste treatment
- hazardous chemicals or special waste treatment (e.g. waste tyres)
- less than 50 m3 of combustible waste material.
This guideline does not overrule any other requirement that specifically relates to the business or undertaking (e.g. guidelines for rubber tyre storage, dangerous goods code), nor does this guideline overrule any other specific
condition that has been imposed on the waste facility.
This guideline is not a statutory document and should be given due consideration by each stakeholder as it relates to their role and responsibility in operating, managing, planning, designing, consulting, assessing or determining the case of any applicable waste facility.
Application of this guideline does not automatically provide an acceptable solution that avoids the involvement of fire authorities in the process. Fire services should always be involved early in the consultation phase of any
development or risk management process.
This guideline is developed in the public interest and should be taken into consideration by any AHJ when determining a development application for a waste facility (refer to statutory provisions applicable to the site or proposed site).
It is recommended that site management conducts a risk management process for any given waste facility. This guideline should by read, understood and applied in conjunction with fire authority consultation. It is also recommended that an external consultant be engaged to provide specialist advice and support in the risk management process.