If you service fire protection systems, or manage the buildings they protect, the records have to tell one consistent story: what was inspected and tested under AS 1851, which defects were found, when each was fixed, and what the building owner then declared in the annual statement. Problems start when that story is split across a technician's field app, the office job system, a defects spreadsheet, quotes in email and the customer's own facility portal. The fix is to make the asset and the defect the shared record that every system works from, so a defect raised on site follows through quoting, rectification, invoicing and the customer's report without being typed again.
This is general information, not compliance advice. Check the rules for your state and building class with the regulator or your fire safety adviser.
What changed in NSW in 2026, and what the other states call it
NSW. From 13 February 2026, all class 1b and class 2 to 9 buildings in NSW must have essential fire safety measures inspected and tested in accordance with AS 1851-2012, under the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021 (NSW Building Commission). Building owners must keep records in the manner AS 1851-2012 prescribes for at least 7 years, and the standard calls for a hard copy logbook left on site at the end of testing (NSW Government, responsibilities of building owners). Owners also issue an annual fire safety statement (AFSS) to the council and Fire and Rescue NSW, confirming each measure in the building's fire safety schedule has been assessed in the past 12 months by a practitioner under the NSW accreditation scheme (same NSW Government page; see also Fire and Rescue NSW on lodging statements).
Victoria. Owners of buildings with essential safety measures prepare an Annual Essential Safety Measures Report (AESMR) every 12 months under the Building Regulations 2018 (Building and Plumbing Commission form).
Queensland. The occupier gives a yearly occupier's statement to the Commissioner of the Queensland Fire Department, confirming prescribed fire safety installations have been maintained to a relevant standard, and body corporates keep maintenance records for 2 years with the fire safety management plan (Business Queensland).
Other states have their own forms and names. The point for systems is the same everywhere: the routine service records feed a yearly declaration, and the declaration is only as good as the records behind it.
Defects are where the records drift apart
AS 1851-2012 sorts what a technician finds into three groups, as the NSW Government summarises: critical defects that must be addressed promptly, non-critical defects that should be rectified, and non-conformances, which usually come from missing information. Each defect then goes on a journey:
- Found and recorded by the technician on site, often in a field app, sometimes on paper.
- Written into the logbook and the service report.
- Quoted by the office, usually in the job system or a spreadsheet, and emailed to the customer or their facility manager.
- Approved (or not) by the customer, often by email or in the customer's own portal.
- Booked, rectified, retested and closed off.
- Invoiced.
- Reported back to the building owner, and taken into account when the annual statement is prepared.
Each step is often in a different place. The field app knows the defect. The job system knows the quote. The approval is in someone's inbox. The customer's portal has its own work order number. The defects register that the facility manager keeps is a spreadsheet updated from PDFs. So when the owner asks "is that critical defect from March fixed?", three people give three answers.
The pattern behind it
This isn't special to fire. It's the same four causes we see across trades and facility services:
- Information typed in again. The defect is typed by the tech, then again into the quote, then again into the customer's portal, then again into the facility manager's register. That's [double data entry](/guides/plain-english-glossary#double-data-entry), the same information typed into two or more systems.
- No [single source of truth](/guides/plain-english-glossary#single-source-of-truth), one place everyone takes the answer from. The contractor's system says the defect is closed; the facility manager's register says it's open.
- Processes in people's heads. One service coordinator knows which quotes are waiting on approval, which sites are due next month and which customer wants reports in their own format.
- Reports built by hand. Monthly customer reports and the evidence pack behind the annual statement are assembled from exports, so they're slow and they drift from the field record.
Fire-specific job management software covers much of the contractor's side well. The gaps are usually at the edges: between the contractor and the customer's portal, between several contractors and one facility manager, and between service records and the annual statement process.
What a consistent record looks like
You don't need every party on the same software. You need the same few identifiers used everywhere, and the record to move rather than be retyped.
For fire services contractors:
- One asset register per site, with a stable ID for every measure (each extinguisher, hydrant, pump set, panel and door), matching the building's fire safety schedule.
- Defects raised against the asset, with their category, the date found and photos, in the field app.
- Quotes generated from the defect, so the defect ID travels with the quote, the approval, the job, the retest and the invoice.
- Customer portal updates sent from your system, not retyped by the coordinator, wherever the portal accepts them.
- Scheduling from the asset register, so routine service frequencies drive the next visit rather than a spreadsheet and one person's memory.
For facility managers and building owners:
- One defects register per building, fed from each contractor's reports, with the contractor's defect ID kept alongside your own.
- A status you trust, so open critical defects are visible across every site on one screen.
- The annual statement pack built from the register: what was inspected and tested, by whom and when, what's open and what's been closed.
What it looks like when it's fixed
A technician finds a critical defect on a fire pump. It's recorded against that pump's asset ID with photos before they leave site. The office receives it, and a quote is generated from the defect and sent to the facility manager's portal automatically. The approval comes back and the job is booked. When the retest passes, the defect closes in the contractor's system, the customer's portal and the facility manager's register at the same time, and the invoice goes out with the defect and portal references the customer needs.
At the end of the month, the facility manager opens one report showing every building's routine service status and open defects by category. When the annual statement is due, the evidence is already in one place.
That's the kind of joined-up work we build through business process automation and compliance reporting from everyday data, working with the field and job systems you already use.
Frequently asked questions
What is AS 1851?
AS 1851 is the Australian Standard for the routine service of fire protection systems and equipment. It sets out how often each type of system is inspected and tested, and how results and defects are recorded. NSW has required inspection and testing to AS 1851-2012 in class 1b and class 2 to 9 buildings since 13 February 2026.
How long do I need to keep AS 1851 records in NSW?
The NSW Government says building owners must keep records in the manner prescribed by AS 1851-2012 for at least 7 years, including the logbook left on site after testing. Other states have their own retention rules, so check yours.
What's the difference between an AFSS, an AESMR and an occupier's statement?
They are each state's yearly declaration about a building's fire safety measures. NSW uses the annual fire safety statement (AFSS), Victoria the Annual Essential Safety Measures Report (AESMR), and Queensland the occupier's statement. Each relies on the routine service records being complete.
Can we use an app instead of the paper logbook?
The NSW Government notes contractors may offer electronic recording, but the standard calls for a hard copy logbook left on site at the completion of testing. Many contractors run both, which is exactly why the two need to agree.
Our customers each want reports in their own portal. Can that be automated?
Often, yes, where the portal accepts imports or has an API (a way for software to send it data). Where it doesn't, the report can at least be produced from your records in the customer's format, so nobody retypes it.
See our trades and field service page and our article on finished jobs that sit uninvoiced for the wider picture. If you'd like your current flow mapped before deciding anything, our $5,000 Process & Systems Audit documents how inspection, defect and invoice information moves through your business and where it's retyped.
If your defects, quotes and customer reports live in different places, book a free initial chat and we'll talk through how to join them up.