Today I’m asked for my:

… interpretation of the requirements of a building owner/building manager for Section 2 (specifically 2.1, 2.2 & 2.3) of AS3745 – Planning for emergencies in facilities  for a multi-tenanted building, where does the onus sit in relation to establishing and managing an Emergency Planning Committee (EPC), my view and interpretation is this primarily rests with the building owner/building manager and the tenants provide EPC/ECO members to assist in this execution of the related emergency planning and response activities?

In a previous post on this standard – Online emergency training and AS3745 (February 6, 2024) I said:

The search for ‘absolute clarity’ is misguided. The law is often not absolutely clear and intentionally so.  The objective to be met may be set out but the way to get there is not as that allows different sectors, and different players to find different ways to achieve the required objective…

I suspect that is also true here.

Section 2 of Australian Standard AS3745 is headed ‘Emergency Planning Committee’.   It says (at [2.1]):

An emergency planning committee (EPC) shall be formed for each facility by the person or persons responsible for the facility or its occupants and visitors… The EPC shall be appropriate for the particular facility(ies).

Note 4 says “Building/facility owners, agents, occupiers, lessors, or employers are typically those responsible for a facility or its occupants.”

Paragraph [2.3] says

The EPC shall consist of not less than two people who shall be representative of the stakeholders in a facility one of which shall be management…

Note 1 says:

In most facilities the EPC would comprise senior management, tenants, chief warden and specialist facility personnel, such as the maintenance engineer and, where reasonably available, an occupant with a disability…

Ultimately everyone is responsible for ensuring an effective EPC but exactly how that is structured will depend on how the facility is managed and occupied.  A building may be occupied by tenants who lease from a single owner who may therefore be ‘the person … responsible for the facility’.  The owner may have assigned management of the building to a managing agent so it may be the agent who is ‘the person … responsible for the facility’. 

Alternatively the building may be occupied (like an apartment block) by business that own their own part of the building and there is an owners corporation to manage the common property and it is the owners corporation that is ‘responsible for the facility’ as a whole.   Each of the owners within the facility is responsible for the facility and everyone who has a business in the facility is responsible for the occupants and visitors.

The standard does not say where ultimately responsibility rests.  It is shared across all the ‘owners, agents, occupiers, lessors, or employers’ and they all have an obligation to ensure the EPC is in place. If it was intended that the obligation always sat with ‘the building owner/building manager’ then [2.1] would say ‘An emergency planning committee (EPC) shall be formed for each facility by the person or persons responsible for the facility.’  The addition of the words ‘or its occupants and visitors’ confirm that the obligation is not only a shared responsibility, but that the lead can be taken by the tenants, occupiers or business in the facility rather than the building owner (hence the use of ‘or’ not ‘and’) depending on what is appropriate for that particular facility.  The critical element is that the EPC is representative of the facility’s users.

Conclusion

The Australian Standard AS3745 – Planning for emergencies in facilities does not say where the ultimate onus for establishing and managing an Emergency Planning Committee (EPC) sits. The obligation is shared by all the ‘owners, agents, occupiers, lessors, or employers’.  The critical element is that the EPC is representative of the facility’s users.

This blog is made possible with generous financial support from (in alphabetical order) the Australasian College of Paramedicine, the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW), the Australian Paramedics Association (Qld), Natural Hazards Research Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service Association and the NSW SES Volunteers Association. I am responsible for the content in this post including any errors or omissions. Any opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or understanding of the donors.

This blog is a general discussion of legal principles only.  It is not legal advice. Do not rely on the information here to make decisions regarding your legal position or to make decisions that affect your legal rights or responsibilities. For advice on your particular circumstances always consult an admitted legal practitioner in your state or territory.