DCC Building Warrant of Fitness
No time for the normal book-related item today. Books have been temporarily ousted by more momentous events. Today heralds the start of the Dunedin City Council's new Building Warrant of Fitness compliance programme.
The (possibly aptly?) named form SS 15.2 has been delivered to us. It must be completed by all retail premises EVERY day. In order to complete the form, all FINAL EXIT doors must be checked EVERY day to ensure that they are not blocked or locked or barred or cluttered by obstacles. Once this check has been carried out, the form SS 15.2 must be filled in to indicate compliance with the checking requirement.
The form SS 15.2 must be kept on the premises at all times and can be checked by the Council's inspector at any time. Failure to produce a correctly filled in form SS 15.2 can result in a $1000 fine and the cancellation of the Building Warrant of Fitness certificate, which means no trading allowed.
One wonders what would happen if there were a fire? The booklet might be burned to a crisp as employees beat a hasty retreat to safety without stopping to collect it. How could a business then prove that the regulation had been complied with? Would there be a $1000 fine for that? What if there were a burglary and the SS 15.2 booklet was inadvertently stolen? Would there be a $1000 fine for that? What if a FINAL EXIT was blocked and this was duly noted EVERY DAY on the Council's form SS 15.2? There presumably would be no $1000 fine for that as there appears to be no requirement to DO anything other than complete the form.