When is Fire Certificate Required

Under the Fire Safety Act Section 20, the owner or occupier of any public buildings such as offices, hospitals shopping complexes and industrial buildings that fall within the following criteria is required to apply and obtain a Fire Certificate-

(a) Public building

has an occupant load of more than 200 persons

(b) Industrial building

i. has an occupant load of at least 1, 000 persons;
ii. has a gross floor area of at least 5, 000 square metres ; or
iii. exceeds 24 metres in habitable height

The Fire Certificate Scheme is to ensure that the fire safety systems and fire safety measures are properly maintained and in good working condition. They should be tested in accordance with the relevant codes of practices.

Application For Fire Certificate (FC)

The Fire Certificate (FC) must be obtained within twelve months from the issue of the Temporary Fire Permit (TFP) / Fire Safety Certificate (FSC), whichever is first obtained. For new FC, the application shall be made upon our notification. For renewal cases, an application should be made at least two months before expiry of the existing fire certificate.

The fire certificate is valid for one year. The application form should be duly completed and returned to SCDF within two weeks.

If the application is in order, SCDF will make an appointment with the owner or occupier for an inspection. Meanwhile the owner or occupier has to arrange for the Professional Engineer and contractor to carry out pre-testing. Report on the pre-testing has to be sent to SCDF (Fire Safety & Shelter Dept) before the inspection. FC application forms are available at:

a) Manual Submission

Fire Safety & Shelter Department
HQ Singapore Civil Defence Force
91 Ubi Avenue 4
Singapore 408827

or you can download the FC application form.

What category of Professional Engineer must be engaged for various types of fire protection systems?

Category of Professional Engineer to endorse on the various types of fire protection system ( 31KB)

Building Inspection

Every building has to be inspected annually on a scheduled basis. To maintain the integrity of fire safety and prevention, a high standard of inspection at all buildings is required. Some examples of the items to be inspected are listed below :
• Emergency power supply
• Sprinkler system
• Fire alarm system
• Wet riser
• Dry riser
• Lift
• Pressurisation system
• Atrium smoke control system
• Mechanical ventilation for basement
• Air-conditioning system
• Voice communication system
• Fire Command Centre

Stages Of Site Inspection

Site inspection is conducted in three stages. They are :-

• Stage one
System operation under fire alarm activation simulated under fire condition.
• Stage two
System operation test under secondary power supply by generator.
• Stage three
Testing of individual installation or fire protection measures starting from the roof-top down to every floor till the lowest level of the building.

After the inspection, a briefing with the building management representatives will be conducted. If the fire safety works are in order, a fire certificate will be issued to the applicant. However, if there is non-compliance with some requirements, the officer-in-charge will detail out all the defects from the respective inspectors and discuss with the building management. A written direction listing down the outstanding fire safety requirements that need to be rectified will be sent to the owner or occupier. The building owner or occupier has to attend to the matter promptly, so as not to render himself / herself liable for prosecution of using / occupying a public building without a valid fire certificate. Re-inspection may be arranged to confirm that all the outstanding defects are rectified.

Revocation Of Fire Certificate

The Commissioner of SCDF may revoke any Fire Certificate where there is :-
• a breach of any term and condition of the certificate;
• any misrepresentation of a material fact in the application for the fire certificate or accompanying plans or documents upon the basis of which the certificate was issued or renewed; or
• knowledge that the fire hazards within the building or part thereof, for which the fire certificate was issued or renewed, have increased without adequate fire safety measures being taken to the satisfaction of the Commissioner.

Penalty

Under the Fire Safety (Building Fire Safety) Regulations 1994, any person who :-
• without lawful excuse refuses or neglects to do anything which he / she is required to do;
• without lawful excuse fails to comply with the requirements of any notice served on him;
• without lawful excuse acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any provision;
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.