High front guttering advisory committee report - NSW Fair Trading ...

The fact that both the BCA and the NSW Code of Practice are built on AS3500 does not in
itself give rise to any inconsistency, as different parts of AS3500 apply to different types of
work.
The Sydney Water and Hunter Water Corporations, local councils and other plumbing
regulators do not regulate roof plumbing. However, Fair Trading is aware that the terms of
the relevant legislation, including the various definitions of plumbing and drainage work,
differ across legislative instruments and may cause confusion. This confusion is one of the
reasons why the current plumbing reform process was commenced. As part of that reform
process, it is proposed to clarify the current legislation to remove any potential for confusion.
The risks to consumers, the public, and the environment from faulty work in relation to
drinking water and the removal of sanitary waste are of a different scale than the risks of
faulty guttering. It is appropriate that these are regulated differently to ensure that regulatory
effort is focussed on areas of higher risk, and that red tape for industry and consumers is
minimised.
I have attached some more detail on the regulation of roof plumbing work, the NSW Code of
Practice for Plumbing and Drainage, and the status of proposed reforms to the plumbing
regulatory framework in New South Wales for the information of the Committee.
Yours sincerely
Steve Griffin
Deputy Commissioner
Fair Trading Operations
16 December 2010
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