Compliance by state

When does a NSW building need a supplementary fire safety statement?

A NSW building needs a supplementary fire safety statement, on top of its Annual Fire Safety Statement, when its fire safety schedule lists critical fire safety measures that must be assessed more often than yearly. The Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021 requires the extra statement at the shorter interval the schedule sets, assessed by an accredited practitioner (fire safety).

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

Official name: Supplementary fire safety statement
Regulator: NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure
Who issues it: The building owner, based on an assessment by an accredited practitioner (fire safety), for critical fire safety measures named in the fire safety schedule
When: The building's fire safety schedule identifies one or more critical fire safety measures that need assessment more often than the annual cycle
Deadline: Set by the fire safety schedule for that building, not a fixed figure in the Regulation itself. Runs alongside, not instead of, the Annual Fire Safety Statement
Lodgement: Not specified by current NSW Government fire safety certification guidance. Confirm your council's submission process directly
Keep records for: Not specified in the guidance reviewed. Keep the current and prior statements with the fire safety schedule as your compliance record
Penalty: Current NSW Government fire safety certification guidance does not publish a specific penalty figure for failing to issue a supplementary statement. As with the AFSS, an assessment carried out by someone outside an approved accreditation scheme is not one the regulation recognises for a critical measure.

Homeowner? If your building's fire safety schedule lists a critical measure, check the interval it sets: the supplementary statement follows that schedule, not a fixed yearly date, so it's easy to miss if nobody is tracking it separately.

What the certificate must show

Only the critical fire safety measures named in the fire safety schedule, not the full measure list
Confirmation the accredited practitioner (fire safety) assessed, inspected and verified each critical measure
The interval it is assessed against, as set by the fire safety schedule
From 13 February 2026, maintenance of those measures carried out to AS 1851-2012

Recent change

From 13 February 2026, buildings needing an annual fire safety statement (and therefore any supplementary statement running alongside it) must maintain essential fire safety measures to AS 1851-2012.

Produce it from a ServiceM8 job

Flag each critical fire safety measure from the building's fire safety schedule as its own job type, separate from the annual AFSS round.
Build a form, Supplementary FSS NSW, listing only the critical measures for that building, with AS 1851-2012 maintenance status and Assessed and verified (Y/N) per measure.
Set a Reminder at the interval the fire safety schedule specifies for each critical measure, rather than defaulting to 12 months.
Record the accredited practitioner's name and accreditation scheme on the form so the statement shows who signed off the critical measures.
Keep the supplementary statement and the AFSS as separate records in the job diary, since one does not substitute for the other.
Hand the signed statement to the building owner for their council submission.

A second statement, on a different clock

Most NSW buildings only deal with the Annual Fire Safety Statement, one document, once a year. A smaller set of buildings carry an extra obligation. Where the fire safety schedule identifies critical fire safety measures, ones judged to need checking more often than the yearly cycle covers, NSW Government guidance describes the supplementary fire safety statement as issued "at more regular intervals (as specified in the fire safety schedule)". The schedule, not a fixed rule in the Regulation, is what sets the actual frequency for that building, six monthly is common in practice, but the document that governs it is building specific.

The same accreditation rule applies

A supplementary statement is not a lighter weight version of the annual one. NSW Government's fire safety practitioner guidance treats it the same way as the AFSS for the purpose of who can sign it off: assessment of the measures behind a supplementary statement is statutory work, and only a person accredited under an approved scheme, the Fire Protection Accreditation Scheme (FPAS) being the one currently approved, can do it. A building owner cannot rely on someone they simply consider competent for a critical measure the way they can for a non statutory one.

It sits alongside the AFSS, not instead of it

The supplementary statement does not replace the annual one, it runs in parallel and only covers the critical measures named in the schedule. A building with, say, a fire pump or a smoke control system flagged as critical still needs its full Annual Fire Safety Statement covering every essential measure once a year, and the supplementary statement covering the critical items on their own shorter cycle. Missing which measures on your schedule are marked critical is the easiest way to miss this obligation entirely, since nothing prompts a business to look for a second document unless the schedule already flags one.

What current guidance doesn't spell out

NSW Government's published fire safety certification material confirms the trigger, critical measures on the fire safety schedule, and the accreditation requirement, but does not set a specific interval in the Regulation itself (it points to the schedule), does not state where the statement is lodged, and does not publish a specific penalty figure. Treat the fire safety schedule for your building as the authoritative source for the interval, and your council's process as the authority on submission.

Sources

A supplementary fire safety statement covers critical fire safety measures and is issued at more regular intervals, as specified in the fire safety schedule, rather than the annual cycle that applies to the Annual Fire Safety Statement. NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, checked 25 Sep 2026.
Only a person accredited under an approved industry accreditation scheme can carry out the fire safety measure assessment work covered by that scheme; a building owner may rely on a person they consider competent only for non-statutory measures not subject to a performance solution. The Fire Protection Accreditation Scheme (FPAS), approved 1 July 2020, covers assessing the performance of essential fire safety measures for annual and supplementary fire safety statements. Requirements derive from the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 and the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021. NSW Government (Building Commission NSW), checked 25 Sep 2026.
From 13 February 2026, buildings needing an annual fire safety statement must have essential fire safety measures maintained in accordance with AS 1851-2012; reforms to the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021 rolled out in phases from December 2022, including a mandatory standard Fire Safety Schedule template from 13 February 2023. NSW Government (Building Commission NSW), checked 25 Sep 2026.
The Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021 (NSW) is the regulation governing fire safety statements and certificates, including the fire safety schedule that lists a building's fire safety measures. NSW legislation register, cited via NSW Government (Building Commission NSW), checked 25 Sep 2026.