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Smoke alarms

Legislation requires all NSW residents must have at least one working smoke alarm installed on each level of their home. This includes owner occupied, rental properties, relocatable homes or any other residential building where people sleep.

Fact

Research shows that in 2005 nearly a quarter of NSW households (27.3%) do not have a smoke alarm installed.
Source: NSW Department of Health Population Survey HOIST.

Smoke alarms are already mandatory for all new buildings and in some instances when buildings are being renovated.

Smoke alarms are life-saving devices that provide benefits for occupants. They detect smoke well before any sleeping occupant would and provide critical seconds to implement actions to save life and property. Smoke alarms are designed to detect fire smoke and emit a loud and distinctive sound to alert occupants of potential danger.

Smoke alarms have been mandatory in all dwellings in Victoria and South Australia since 1999, with 96% and 85-90% of dwellings respectively in those two states now having smoke alarms. Evidence from the USA, where smoke alarms have been in wide use for 20 years, shows a reduction in house fire deaths of more than 50% in those homes where working smoke alarms are installed. The data available in Australia supports the USA figures.

If you have a working smoke alarm you are reducing the fire risk to yourself and your family.