About building product bans and safety notices
To keep people safe, NSW can ban unsafe building products. Builders and suppliers face heavy fines if they use or sell products that pose a serious risk.
Building product bans
A building product ban can be put in place on any or all of a building product’s uses if the use of the product could cause serious injury or death.
If a ban is issued, the reasons for imposing the ban will be specified.
A ban may identify specific unsafe uses or all uses of a building product. It could also identify a specific building to which the ban relates.
Products that are being assessed, under investigation or banned are listed under Current notices.
Fines
Any person or corporation who does not comply with the requirements of the ban will be subject to large fines. A corporation found to be using a banned building product can be fined up to $1.1million and individuals can be fined up to $220,000.
Investigation and assessment of building products
The NSW Government has the power to investigate building products which may be unsafe for use.
Where appropriate, manufacturers or suppliers will be required to have their products analysed or tested to ensure they are safe for use. If a building product is determined to be unsafe, the results of the assessment may be published under Current notices.
Builders, building product suppliers, manufacturers and importers can be compelled to produce their records so that dangerous building products can be tracked and pinpointed. Building Commission NSW investigators have the power to contact any person who uses a potentially unsafe building product, or has information about the product which may assist with Building Commission NSW's investigation.
Rectification of building work
The Building Commission NSW will notify the local council or relevant authority of any building that contains banned products. If appropriate, the council or relevant authority will issue a rectification order and report back to us.
We will closely monitor the progress of all buildings that have been referred to councils and relevant authorities, to ensure that appropriate steps have been taken in relation to the safety risks posed by the building products.
Owners and tenants of buildings that are referred to the local council or relevant authority will be notified of the possible safety risk of the building product. If there is a risk posed to the community, the building’s details may be published under Current notices.
Register of undertakings
If someone (for example a builder, developer or tradesperson) breaches building product safety laws or the Building Commission NSW thinks they are likely to breach the law, or suspect they have already, then that person may accept an undertaking (which is a legally binding agreement) to put additional safety measures in place that will mitigate the risk posed by an unsafe building product.
The NSW Government is required to maintain a register of any building product undertakings accepted under the Building Products (Safety) Act 2017.
Read about the current undertakings.
Current notices
Building product safety laws require the NSW Government to publish certain notices. For example, building product use bans, building safety notices and affected building notices.
Current notifications:
- Call for submissions on cladding – submissions closed 23 April 2018
- Building product use ban for the use of certain types of aluminium composite panels - published 15 August 2018