Inspection · Baseline concept

What is a passive fire baseline survey?

Written by Scott Cunningham, Compliance Manager

Last reviewed 2 September 2026 Next review September 2027

inspection
baseline concept
western australia

Short answer

A baseline survey creates a usable starting record for an existing building or portfolio: what assets and conditions can be located, what records exist, what can be observed, and what is missing before a maintenance or rectification programme is built on top of it.

What to do next

Send the tag, the schedule reference, the drawings you have and photographs of the actual condition. We will tell you what they show, what they cannot, and what else is needed before anyone gives a conclusion.

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General information only. A conclusion about a specific condition requires the actual construction, the evidence behind it and the site condition to be reviewed.

Keep reading

More on inspection.

All inspection articles

How should inaccessible passive fire items be reported?

Record the access limitation and the area it affects, as a finding in its own right. Do not turn "not inspected" into "acceptable" because the asset could not be reached.

Scott Cunningham

What is the difference between an observation and a compliance conclusion?

An observation is what the inspector can see, measure or confirm from records. A compliance conclusion compares the actual condition against the applicable requirement and the evidence behind it, and may need information a visual inspection cannot supply. Reporting the second as though it were the first is how a register becomes unsafe to rely on.

Scott Cunningham

What should a passive fire inspection record?

For each item: the asset or location, what was observed, the relevant evidence or the gap in it, and a next action. "Pass" or "fail" without the reason is rarely enough for whoever has to price or rectify it afterwards.

Scott Cunningham