Vic signs need 7% ACM to avoid monster fines

A new directive means sign manufacturers in Victoria must use ACM materials that have less than seven per cent core combustibility, and must have certificates to show that is the case, or risk huge fines for non-compliance.

 

The Victorian government has instigated a prohibition on the use of high-risk cladding products, which reduces the percentage of the core of an ACM product that can be combustible from less than 30 per cent to less than seven per cent.

This means even if a product has a 5630 Certificate stating that it has achieved Group 1 or 2 rating, validation is needed, to confirm the percentage of the core that is combustible is seven per cent or less.

Victorian companies that breach the ban will be fined up to $400,000, while individuals can be fined up to $80,000. The other states and territories have yet to follow suit with the prohibition, but history has shown that that is likely to change before too long.

For the signage industry, this has impacted the materials that its operators can use, as the prohibition also extends to ancillary and accessories attached to the external firewall, of a type A or B building. It does not apply to signage on the ground floor or first floor of buldings.

A Performance Based Solution from a fire engineer cannot be used to get around the requirements of the prohibition.

Glenn Hain, risk and compliance advisor for the Australian Sign and Graphics Association (Asga), believes that although it will make the cladding industry, and buildings in general, much more safe, it will also bring about some issues that need to be addressed.

“The Victorian cladding and signage people are going to have to ask for those other certificates, because no one will be allowed to sell anything that has more than seven per cent anymore, and I’m not sure if many of the products currently in the market are going to pass,” explains Hain.

“I am still getting people coming to me saying it is such a grey area, but it is not, it is straightforward, this is the new rule and everyone must comply. The details are all readily available for anyone to read, but the problem is that not many people in the industry will go and search those out.

“This is why I’ve been telling anyone that is ringing me to push back at their suppliers to provide them with the proper certificates otherwise their products cannot be bought.

“What happens then though is they can go and sell the products with less than 30 per cent, which was originally the threshold, to anywhere else in the country outside of Victoria because its not prohibited elsewhere. They are technically still legal to sell, just not in Victoria.”

Hain has also noticed a shortage of solid core ACMs and materials to other states lately, because it is all going to Victoria.

“This is because some suppliers got caught and some builders now have all of these materials to use on a building that they can’t use anymore,” Hain continues.

“So, what they end up doing is go to NSW to sell it, for example, because it is a legal material and there is nothing wrong with it there. They then swap with suppliers to get the solid core.”

A 2017 audit of more than 2200 buildings in the state by the Victorian Cladding Taskforce found cladding on hundreds of buildings posed a risk, with 72 cases falling under the “extreme risk” category.

The state government continues to face calls to make the list public, though have cited the risk of arson and terrorism as its reason for withholding the information.

While the directive is currently limited to Victoria, Hain says the other states will not be far behind. “I can’t say that it will happen, but based on what happened with the 30 per cent rule, that took less than 12 months to go national,” Hain warns.

“I’ll give the industry a heads-up now to keep an eye out for it as the states will telegraph what they are going to do, just like they did in Victoria for about 12 months before actually putting the prohibition in place.”