QBCC Fire Protection Licensing

Ensure you have the right competencies & skills.

OVERVIEW

NATIONAL DELIVERY

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) have introduced a new Fire Protection Licensing framework that ensures licensees have the right competencies and skills.

The legislation supporting this is the QBCC and Other Legislation (Fire Protection Licensing) Amendment Regulation 2020.

The changes include:

reducing the number of fire protection licence types and classes
updating qualifications to obtain a fire protection licence
simplifying the scopes of work for each fire protection licence type
‘Certify’ classes no longer authorise ‘inspect & test’ work.

The fire licence classes for ‘inspect & test’ work are:

Passive stream (fire equipment)
Special hazard fire system
Water-based fire system stream (all systems)
Water-based fire system stream (limited systems – restricted to ‘commercials & industrial’ OR ‘domestic & residential’ type)
Portables stream
Electrical stream (fire alarms & emergency lighting).

Changes to some existing scopes of work

There are some changes to the Hydraulic Services Design Licence scope of work to limit the design of fire sprinkler systems to Domestic Systems ONLY, but existing licensees will not be impacted and can continue to perform their current scope of work.

The scope of work for the Fire Safety Professional Licence will also be amended to restrict this licence to conducting inspections and reports on buildings against fire performance legislation.

Does This Relate To You?

These changes will apply to you if you:

currently hold a licence
are studying a fire protection course to obtain a licence
(in some cases) currently perform newly regulated elements of fire protection work under another licence, for example a builder licence.

Transitional Arrangements For Current Licensees

There will be three major transitional arrangements for existing fire protection licence holders:

Most licence holders can continue to undertake the same work and will automatically move onto the new licence classes with no additional training or further action required
Some licensees need to get additional qualifications to ensure that their skills are up to date and in line with contemporary fire protection practices.
The remaining licences will be “continuing licence classes”, meaning that licensees may continue to hold and renew their existing licence as long as they satisfy all renewal requirements.

For more detail on these licences visit website Department of Energy and Public Works.

Work & Licences Newly Regulated

For newly regulated areas of work (eg. certain design licences and some aspects of passive fire protection) that undertook work immediately before the changes commenced, in most instances, will have additional time to obtain the necessary qualifications (if required) and apply for the new licence.

For newly regulated Passive Fire Protection Licences (except for install and maintain fire doors and shutters), the application date is 1 May 2025.

For newly regulated Design Licences, the application date is 1 May 2024 (a temporary licensing exemption has also been provided for subcontractors).

DURATION & STRUCTURE

Fire Industry Training (FiT) delivers this training using a combination of blended learning, which includes online learning, workplace-based learning and submission of project work. Students should aim to complete at least 1-unit per month. For experienced practitioners there is also a Recognition of Prior Learning pathway available.

UNITS OF COMPETENCY

For details on the unit requirements please refer to the QBCC Technical qualifications for licensing.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

There may be pre-request requirements for individual units of competency, please refer to the direction provided by the FiT team through the enrolment process.

For all training you will be expected to have access to:

Computer (desktop or laptop with internet, webcam & microphone)
Zoom (video conferencing app)
National Construction Code of Australia
Australian Standards.

It is recommended that students are able to demonstrate Language, Literacy and Numeracy skills equivalent to Level 3 of the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF).

RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING & CREDIT TRANSFER

FiT offer Recognised Prior Learning (RPL), students with relevant industry experience or who can demonstrate experience within the last two years, are encouraged to discuss the matter with FiT.

Qualification & STATEMENT

On successful completion of a unit of competency, students will be awarded a Statement of Attainment.

Pathways & CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Graduates may be eligible to apply for ‘State specific’ Fire Protection Licenses.

FEES, PAYMENTS & Government Funding

FiT offers a range of accredited and non-accredited courses which do not attract government funding. Eligible individuals may attract industry or employee fund subsidies. As these arrangements vary from state to state and according to an individual’s circumstances, please contact FiT to discuss these options.

See our page RTO Information for full details of the fees & payable.

Interested in finding out more?

If you would like more information or are interested in applying for this course, send us your enquiry today.