Fire Safety (Fire Certificate — Designated Buildings) Notification 2020

No. S 766

Fire Safety Act

(CHAPTER 109A)

Fire Safety
(Fire Certificate — Designated Buildings)
Notification 2020

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 20(1) of the Fire Safety Act, the Minister for Home Affairs makes the following Notification:

Citation and commencement

1.  This Notification is the Fire Safety (Fire Certificate — Designated Buildings) Notification 2020 and comes into operation on 14 September 2020.

Application

2.  Every building in Part 2 of the Schedule is designated to be subject to section 35 of the Act.

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Exempt buildings

3.  Despite paragraph 2, none of the following buildings are designated to be subject to section 35 of the Act:

(a) a building ––

(i) that is wholly or partly occupied by the Monetary Authority of Singapore or a Singapore public sector agency defined under section 2(1) of the Public Sector (Governance) Act 2018; and

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(ii) where a person may not enter, or move within, without being escorted at all times by a person authorised by an entity in sub‑paragraph (i) occupying that building or a person authorised by an entity responsible for the security arrangements in that building;

(b) a building declared as a prison or reformative training centre by the Minister for Home Affairs under section 3 of the Prisons Act 1933;

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(c) a building defined under sub-paragraph (i) of Article 1 of the First Schedule to the Diplomatic and Consular Relations Act 2005;

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(d) a building defined under paragraph 1(j) of Article 1 of the Second Schedule to the Diplomatic and Consular Relations Act 2005.

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THE SCHEDULE

Paragraph 2

Part 1

definitions

1.  In this Schedule —

“boarding premises” and “foreign employee” have the meanings given by section 2(1) of the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act 2015;

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“convalescent home” means a building that is used or intended to be used for the reception and lodging of, and the provision of nursing or rehabilitative care for, persons —

(a) who are suffering or convalescing from any sickness, injury, infirmity or incapacity; and

(b) who are unable to care for their own needs and safety without assistance from other persons,

and includes a disability home and a nursing home;

“element of structure” means —

(a) a member forming part of the structural frame of a building or any other beam or column, but not a member forming part of a roof structure only;

(b) a load-bearing wall or load-bearing part of a wall;

(c) a floor, including a compartment floor, other than the lowest floor (in contact with the ground) of a building;

(d) a separating wall; or

(e) a structure enclosing a protected shaft;

“engineered timber building” means a building that is constructed using any permitted timber material, or a combination of any permitted timber material and other materials, as an element of structure, an external wall or a compartment wall of the building;

“foreign employee dormitory” means boarding premises that provide accommodation to foreign employees, but does not include any premises specified in section 3(2) of the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act 2015;

“fully automated mechanised car park” means a building that is used as a car park where the parking and retrieving of vehicles is done by fully automated mechanical means;

“habitable height”, in relation to a building, means the height measured from the lowest level of a fire engine accessway or fire engine access road to the finished floor level of the highest habitable floor in that building;

“HDB flat” means any flat, house or other building sold under Part 4 or 4B of the Housing and Development Act 1959;

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“hospital” means —

(a) a building that is used or intended to be used for the reception, lodging, treatment and care of persons who require medical treatment; or

(b) a convalescent home;

“industrial building” means a building that is used wholly or mainly for —

(a) the manufacture of goods or materials or the subjection of goods or materials to any process, including any research or development for any manufacturing trade or business;

(b) the purposes of any water, gas, telecommunication, electricity or other industrial undertaking, including research and development for any such industrial undertaking;

(c) the inspection, assessment and servicing of vehicles;

(d) the housing of computer systems and associated components; or

(e) the storage, warehousing or deposit of goods and materials;

“occupant load”, in relation to a building, means the number of persons who may safely occupy the building at any one time, determined in accordance with Chapter 1 of the Fire Code;

“permitted timber material” means any timber material described in the Fire Code as being permissible for use as an element of structure, an external wall or a compartment wall of a building;

“residential building” means a building that is lawfully used or intended to be used for residential purposes.

Part 2

buildings subject to section 35 of act

1.  A public building (except for a residential building) that has an occupant load of more than 200 persons, other than —

(a) a serviced apartment with external corridors that comply with the requirements specified in Chapter 2 of the Fire Code;

(b) a standalone carpark that complies with the requirements specified in Chapter 2 of the Fire Code; and

(c) a hawker centre or wet market that is not fully enclosed on all sides.

2.  An industrial building that —

(a) has an occupant load of 1,000 persons or more;

(b) has a floor area or site area of 5,000 square metres or more; or

(c) has a habitable height of more than 24 metres.

3.  A foreign employee dormitory that —

(a) has an occupant load of 1,000 persons or more;

(b) has a floor area or site area of 5,000 square metres or more; or

(c) has a habitable height of more than 24 metres.

4.  A hospital.

5.  A residential building that —

(a) has a habitable height of more than 24 metres;

(b) is installed with —

(i) an automatic fire alarm system;

(ii) a sprinkler system; or

(iii) a wet riser system; and

(c) is not used or intended to be used as an HDB flat.

6.  An engineered timber building (except a building that is used or intended to be used as an HDB flat) that is installed with any of the following:

(a) an automatic fire alarm system;

(b) an automatic sprinkler system;

(c) an automatic smoke control system;

(d) any other automatic fire detection or suppression system intended to detect or control a fire automatically.

7.  A fully automated mechanised car park that is installed with a fire protection system and meets any of the following conditions:

(a) the total floor area of the car parking decks in the fully automated mechanised car park is more than 200 square metres;

(b) the cubical extent of the fully automated mechanised car park (calculated in the manner prescribed in Chapter 9 of the Fire Code) is more than 1,400 cubic metres;

(c) the parking height of the fully automated mechanised car park above ground (measured in the manner prescribed in Chapter 9 of the Fire Code) is more than 10 metres;

(d) where any part of the parking levels is below ground, the total parking height of the fully automated mechanised car park (measured in the manner prescribed in Chapter 9 of the Fire Code) is more than 14 metres;

(e) there are more than 2 parking levels below ground.

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Made on 24 August 2020.

PANG KIN KEONG

Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Home Affairs,
Singapore.

[MHA 112/2/030; AG/LEGIS/SL/109A/2015/16 Vol. 1]