Specified systems and compliance schedules – requirements for security and gas detection systems

Reprinted from Codewords 34, February 2009, Department of Building and Housing.

Some systems in buildings are so fundamental to the ongoing safe use of the building that they must be regularly inspected, tested, and maintained, and records of these activities kept. These systems are known as 'specified systems' and include fire safety systems, as well as building features such as lifts and ventilation systems.

The Building Act 2004 requires a building not used as a single household unit to have a compliance schedule if it has any specified system. This applies regardless of why the specified system was installed in the first place. Therefore, if a building has a specified system it must be on the building's compliance schedule. (Note that the only instance when a single household unit requires a compliance schedule is if it has a cable car.)