Every year, building owners and facility managers across Australia go through the same ritual: fire safety equipment gets inspected, a compliance certificate gets filed away, and life moves on. It’s easy to treat this as a box-ticking exercise. It shouldn’t be — because that piece of paper is one of the most important documents to understand how well your fire systems are maintained. 

What Are We Actually Talking About? 

Every state and territory places some form of ongoing maintenance obligation on building owners for essential fire safety measures — things like sprinklers, fire doors, smoke alarms, emergency lighting, and fire hydrants. In most jurisdictions this extends to a formal annual statement or certificate lodged with a regulator; a few, such as the Northern Territory, rely more on an ongoing maintenance obligation without a standardised annual lodgement. A summary of the obligations in each jurisdiction is included in the table below: 

If your clients have operations across multiple states, this is not a “set and forget” compliance task — it’s a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction obligation that needs to be tracked separately for each property. 

Why This Matters for Your Clients

Whilst many see this as just another compliance task to be ticked off every year, from a risk management perspective, this is where things get serious. An expired, incomplete, missing, or inaccurate fire safety statement doesn’t just expose you to a fine from your local council or fire authority — it can directly undermine your insurance cover in several ways: 

• Incomplete Statement generally means there are issues with the fire systemjs that need attention and that the systems are not currently fit for purpose.
• Duty of disclosure – If there are issues with the fire systems has this been disclosed? If that turns out not to be true at the time of a loss, insurers can treat this as non-disclosure — potentially voiding cover, even if the fire had nothing to do with the specific measure that lapsed. 
• Breach of policy conditions – Many commercial property policies require fire protection equipment to be kept in good working order and compliant with statutory obligations. A lapsed statement is often the clearest evidence that this condition wasn’t met, giving insurers grounds to dispute a claim. 
• Evidence in the claim’s investigation – After a fire loss, loss adjusters routinely request compliance records. A current, accurate statement strengthens your position; a gap in the paper trail invites scrutiny and can slow or complicate settlement. 
• Underwriting and premium impact – A history of lapsed statements or unresolved defects can affect how underwriters view the insured’s risk profile — influencing terms, premiums, or willingness to offer cover at renewal. 

What Good Practice Looks Like 

Any organisation that takes a proactive approach to risk management should see these annual statements as critical governance documentation. It is the one record that should give your client’s comfort that their maintenance providers are keeping your fire systems in appropriate working order.  If you’re asking about it, it shows you have an understanding of fire systems and are really adding value to the process. You’re not a fire engineer, but it is simple enough to see that the statement is available and current… or not.

We recommend clients treat fire safety certification as an active risk management process rather than an annual paperwork exercise: 

• Maintain a compliance calendar tracking due dates for every property, by state. 
• Engage appropriately accredited practitioners — requirements for who can certify differ by jurisdiction. 
• Address defects promptly rather than noting them and moving on; an unresolved defect on a statement can itself become a disclosure issue. 
• Keep historical records accessible, not just the current statement — insurers and investigators often want to see the trend, not just a snapshot. 
• Loop in your risk adviser/consultant whenever a statement identifies non-compliance, so any insurance implications can be managed proactively rather than discovered after a loss. 

Conclusion 

An Annual Fire Safety Statement — whatever it’s called in your state — is not just a regulatory formality. It’s a key piece of evidence that your clients can use to manage fire risk effectively and responsibly. Treating it as a genuine risk and governance control, rather than an administrative afterthought, is one of the simplest and most effective things you can do to support your client’s risk management efforts.  

For questions about fire safety compliance at a specific property, or how it might affect your current policy. Please contact us — we’re happy to help.

Premium Reductions and Insurance Benefits 

When talking to brokers about sprinkler protection, the one question we are always asked is, “How much we will save on our premiums”. Our analysis indicates that the installation of sprinkler systems can result in insurance premium reductions ranging from 30% to 50%. Businesses and property owners who invest in these systems benefit from lower premiums, and when we factor in that these savings are locked in each year moving forward, this can translate into considerable long-term savings. Additionally, properties with sprinkler systems often experience faster recovery times after a fire, reducing business interruption losses—another key consideration for both insured and insurer. 

The High Capital Cost and Payback Period 

Despite the clear insurance benefits, the cost of installing a sprinkler system remains a major financial hurdle for your clients. Depending on the size and type of property, the installation cost can be substantial, often requiring significant upfront capital investment. Based on our analysis, the payback period for sprinkler installations, when considering insurance premium savings alone, typically falls within the range of 7 to 10 years. Purely as a Capex hurdle for an investment decision, this doesn’t hit the mark for most organisations. This extended payback period means that your clients must weigh the long-term financial advantages against the short-term financial burden. 

Other Benefits 

Beyond insurance savings, there are other compelling reasons to invest in sprinkler protection that need to be factored into this cost benefit. A particular benefit that we always emphasise is the protection of your client’s market share. Protecting a key asset with sprinklers can mean that the operational response to fire events is quick, meaning that interruption of supply to customers is minimised, if not eliminated. Where this is the case your clients will avoid providing competitors with an opportunity to consume their market share. Sprinklers can also enhance property value and attract tenants who prioritize fire safety. For your clients, minimizing fire-related disruptions can preserve reputation and operational continuity, further justifying the investment. 

Conclusion 

While the high capital cost of installing sprinkler systems can make the decision challenging, the long-term benefits—particularly in terms of insurance savings, limiting interruption, protecting market share, and regulatory compliance—make it a worthwhile consideration. For your clients that take a long-term outlook, the investment in sprinkler protection provides not only financial advantages but also enhanced safety and resilience against fire-related losses. Ultimately, understanding both the cost implications and insurance benefits is key to supporting your clients in making an informed decision about fire protection investments. 

For more information and enquiries, please contact us.

According to the Australian Food and Grocery Council “the average food is moved in and out of refrigeration control 14 times before consumption. In one South Australian study, broccoli took 39 steps along the Cold Chain – having as many as 23 operators and 21 stages involved on the way – to reach consumers [1] The Cold Chain is a series of businesses involved in the manufacturing, shipping, storing, retailing and serving of fresh, chilled and frozen foods.”

Food producers and those involved in the supply chain therefore require a robust safety culture and Food Safety Plan. Risk management plans extend to identifying, analysing and prioritising a tailored solution and back up plan to minimise the disruption in the event of a disruption to any part of the supply chain. Insured’s will often only focus on their own business without considering the “what ifs”.

Considerations in the development of a Business Continuity Plan must include:

Key dependencies – critical plant and equipment, spare parts, power, alternate processing / storage capabilities

Contingency plan – documented strategy that can be implemented in the event of a loss or disruption

Customer / supplier dependencies – raw materials, alternate suppliers, alternate customers

In any business one of the key elements is to ensure that record keeping is of the highest standard. This is even more critical in the Cold Chain where products require storage in temperature-controlled environments. Any break in the chain can lead to product alteration, spoilage and, in extreme cases, illness for the consumer. Australians are estimated to be throwing away food worth $5.2 billion a year, including more than $1.1 billion worth of fruit and vegetables and $872.5 million worth of fresh meat and fish. [2] It has been estimated that contaminated food caused approximately 5.4 million cases of gastroenteritis annually in Australia. [3]

Depending on the circumstances, insurance policies may not cover these costs, highlighting the need for a rigorous risk management plan, including supply chain management.

An industry as diverse as food and beverage requires specialist underwriting knowledge and an understanding of the insurance solutions that are right for each circumstance. @Risk Underwriting aim to provide appropriate guidance and coverage to suit your needs.

[1] www.foodprocessing.com.au

[2] What A Waste, David Baker, Josh Fear and Richard Denniss

[3] Estimating foodborne gastroenteritis, Australia. circa 2000 (Hall & Kirk 2005)