Fire Certificate

Under Section 35 of the Fire Safety Act 1993, the owner or occupier of any public building such as offices, hospitals, shopping complexes, industrial buildings and private residential buildings that fall within the following criteria is required to apply and obtain a Fire Certificate (FC).

​

• Public Building1 (except for a residential building) that has an occupant load of more than 200 persons, other than

  • a serviced apartment with external corridors that comply with the requirements specified in Chapter 2 of the Fire Code;

  • a standalone carpark that complies with the requirements specified in Chapter 2 of the Fire Code; and

  • a hawker centre or wet market that is not fully enclosed on all sides.

​

• An industrial building that

  • Has an occupant load of 1,000 persons or more;

  • Has a floor area of site area2 of 5,000 square metres or more; or

  • Has a habitable height of more than 24 metres.

​

• A foreign dormitory that

  • Has an occupant load of 1,000 persons or more;

  • Has a floor area of site area2 of 5,000 square metres or more; or

  • Has a habitable height of more than 24 metres.

​

• A hospital

​

• A residential building that:

  • Has a habitable height of more than 24 metres;

  • Is installed with:

    • An automatic fire alarm system;

    • A sprinkler system; or

    • A wet riser system; and

  • Is not used or intended to be used as an HDB flat

Application for the issue of FC must be made within twelve (12) months after the date on which the certificate of statutory completion or temporary occupation permit is issued, whichever is earlier.

​

For new FC applications, owners or occupiers are required to first complete and email the “Information on Fire Certificate” form to SCDF.

​

For premises which are renewing their FC, applications shall be made at least two months before the expiry of the existing FC.

The FC is valid for a period of 12 months, unless otherwise stated.

SCDF will make an appointment with the owner or occupier of a premises for an inspection if required. The owner or occupier will have to arrange for a Professional Engineer and contractor to carry out the pre-testing. All relevant reports and documents must be submitted to SCDF before the inspection date.

​​

Building Inspections

Every building has to be inspected annually to maintain the integrity of its fire protection systems. Examples of the items to be inspected are:

• Emergency power supply

• Pressurisation system

• Sprinkler system

• Atrium smoke control system

• Fire alarm system

• Mechanical ventilation for basement

• Wet or Dry riser

• Air-conditioning system

• Voice communication system

• Lift

• Fire Command Centre

​

Stages of Site Inspections

The site inspection is conducted in three stages:

• Stage 1

  • System operation test during a simulated fire alarm activation

• Stage 2

  • System operation test under secondary power supply by generator

• Stage 3

  • Testing of individual installations or fire protection systems throughout the building

​

If the fire protection systems are in order, the FC will be issued to the applicant. If non-compliances were observed, SCDF will issue a written direction which lists the fire protection systems that needs to be rectified prior to obtaining the FC. 

​

The building owner or occupier needs to resolve the matter promptly, as they may render themselves liable to prosecution for occupying a designated building without a valid fire certificate. A follow-up inspection may be arranged to confirm that all the outstanding defects have been rectified.

Under the Fire Safety (Building and Pipeline Fire Safety) Regulations, any person who

• without lawful excuse refuses or neglects to do anything which he is required to do;

• without lawful excuse fails to comply with the requirements of any notice served on him under these Regulations; or

• without lawful excuse acts in contravention of any provision of these Regulations,

• shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.

• Provide Professional Engineer (PE) to conduct FC inspection

• Provide Technicians to perform testing of fire protection system

• Issuance of endorsed FC forms by PE if all systems are in good working condition

• Submission of FC forms to SCDF