Compliance by state

The Victorian owner's annual essential safety measures duty

In Victoria, an owner must prepare an annual essential safety measures report covering every measure listed in Schedule 8 of the Building Regulations 2018, and may authorise an agent to complete it. The owner also keeps on site maintenance records a municipal building surveyor or the fire brigade's chief officer can inspect on 24 hours' notice.

Last checked 25 Sep 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.

Official name: Annual essential safety measures report, supported by an on site maintenance logbook
Regulator: Municipal building surveyor (council) and the chief officer of the relevant fire brigade, under the Building Regulations 2018
Who issues it: The building owner, who may authorise an agent such as a maintenance contractor to complete the report
When: Every building with essential safety measures listed against it in Schedule 8 of the Building Regulations 2018
Deadline: Annual, and the maintenance logbook must be available for inspection within 24 hours of a council or fire brigade request
Lodgement: Kept by the owner, not lodged with a central register; produced to the municipal building surveyor or fire brigade chief officer on request
Keep records for: Ongoing on site record of maintenance checks, tests and repair work, alongside each year's report
Penalty: Victoria has not published a single statewide dollar penalty for a missed annual essential safety measures report on this page's sources. Non-compliance is enforced by the municipal building surveyor or the relevant fire brigade chief officer as an infringement notice and fine under the Building Act 1993, escalating to prosecution for repeated or serious failures.

Homeowner? If you own or manage a Victorian building with fire safety equipment, your maintenance contractor can prepare the annual report for you, but you remain the one legally required to have it, and to have the logbook ready if council or the fire brigade asks.

What the certificate must show

Each essential safety measure listed for the building under Schedule 8
The maintenance standard or manufacturer schedule each measure is checked against
Date and result of each check, test or repair through the year
The building owner's name, or the authorised agent completing the report on their behalf

Produce it from a ServiceM8 job

In Settings > Forms > Add Form, create a form called ESM annual report VIC.
Add a repeatable section, Safety measure, with Text for the measure name (matched to the building's Schedule 8 list), Choice for Pass/Fail, and Date for the check.
Add a Text question for Maintenance standard applied and a Signature question for the technician or agent.
Attach the form to an Essential safety measures job badge and require it at every scheduled service.
Keep every completed form against the building in ServiceM8's job history so the on site logbook is a live export, not a rebuild after the fact.
Before the annual report is due, export the year's completed forms as the owner's supporting record and pass the summary to the building owner to sign off.

The report is the owner's, even when a contractor writes it

Part 15 of the Building Regulations 2018 defines an essential safety measure by reference to Schedule 8, which lists items such as emergency lighting, exit signage, fire hydrants, sprinklers, smoke detection and mechanical smoke exhaust systems, depending on what the building's occupancy permit requires. The duty to prepare the annual report sits with the building owner, but the regulations let the owner authorise an agent, typically the specialist maintenance contractor already servicing the equipment, to actually complete it on their behalf. That does not shift legal responsibility off the owner: it just lets the trade doing the work also produce the paperwork.

A logbook has to sit on site, ready for 24 hours' notice

Separately from the annual report itself, the owner has to keep records of the maintenance checks, safety measure tests and any repair work carried out through the year, and make both those records and the annual reports available for inspection after 24 hours' notice from a municipal building surveyor or the chief officer of the relevant fire brigade. In practice this means an on site logbook or an accessible digital record, not just a folder in the managing agent's office across town, because the 24 hour window assumes the records can be produced quickly.

Council and the fire brigade share enforcement

Councils are responsible under the Building Act 1993 for enforcing building safety in their municipality, and the day to day enforcement of the maintenance provisions specifically sits with the municipal building surveyor or the chief officer of the relevant fire brigade. Non-compliance can bring an infringement notice and a fine from either body, and can escalate to prosecution for repeated or serious failures, so a building missing its annual report or its on site logbook is exposed to two separate enforcement paths rather than one.

Sources

An essential safety measure is defined in Part 15 of the Building Regulations 2018 and includes items listed in Schedule 8 of the Regulations. The building owner must prepare an annual essential safety measures report, and may authorise an agent, such as a specialist maintenance contractor, to complete it. Victorian Building Authority / Building and Plumbing Commission (Victoria), checked 25 Sep 2026.
Owners must keep records of maintenance checks, safety measures and repair work so they can be inspected by a municipal building surveyor or the chief officer of the relevant fire brigade, and must make these documents and the annual reports available on request after 24 hours' notice. Victorian Building Authority / Building and Plumbing Commission (Victoria), checked 25 Sep 2026.
Councils are responsible under the Building Act 1993 for enforcing building safety in their municipality; enforcement of the essential safety measure maintenance provisions specifically sits with the municipal building surveyor or the chief officer of the relevant fire authority, and non-compliance can lead to an infringement notice, a fine, or prosecution. Victorian Building Authority / Building and Plumbing Commission (Victoria), checked 25 Sep 2026.