Thames Hospital building WOFs revoked days after being issued
Phil Pennington, Reporter
A health board that issued warrants of fitness for its maternity unit and main hospital building in Thames despite
knowing they had firestopping defects, has hurriedly revoked the warrants.
Thames Hospital's warrants are not up-to-date. Photo: Supplied.
The Waikato District Health Board had told RNZ in May that Thames Hospital had defects, at the same time as it detailed many other defects holding up the issuing of warrants at many of its main medical blocks in Hamilton.
RNZ then asked the Thames and Coromandel District Council if the Thames Hospital's warrants were up-to-date.
On Friday, the council said the warrants had just been issued. But on Monday there was a U-turn.
"The situation with the BWOFs (building warrant of fitness') changed this morning," the council said in a statement.
The Independent Qualified Person (IQP) "revoked the reports on the fire separations, so that means the BWOFs are no
longer current". IQPs, as they are known, do warrant checks and sign off buildings for owners.
This followed the council making further enquiries about the fire separations, enquiries which were linked to media
enquiries and reporting, it said.
RNZ had asked on Friday why the council appeared to have accepted warrants signed off on non-compliant hospital
buildings.
Firestopping, also known as fire separations or passive fire measures, are suspected or known to be defective in a
swathe of buildings as the standards have not been rigourously enforced. Poor firestopping means fire and smoke can
spread more quickly than they should.
The warrants of fitness scheme also has only patchy reviewing by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment,
which makes suggestions to councils but does not have a record of enforcing improvements.
The Thames and Coromandel District Council met on Monday with the hospital's facilities manager and engineers WSP Opus.
The revocations mean Thames' Birthing Unit has not had a warrant since March, and the main hospital since late May this
year.
The council plans to issue "notices to fix".
These notices are among the powers it has for tackling breaches of the Building Act or rules; they are a warning to fix
any non-compliance; the next step can be fines of up to $20,000 dollars a day, though councils have generally been
averse to issuing notices or fining building owners.
At Te Kuiti, none of the Waikato DHB's buildings have had a warrant since mid-May this year, because one building has
firestopping defects, and a single warrant covers the whole site.
"Defects have been identified consisting of unprotected penetrations of fire separations, this is mainly cabling and
pipes," the Waitomo District Council said in a statement.
"The identified defects will not allow the issuing of a BWOF until rectified."
In Thames, the council is asking the DHB to get checks done by a qualified person.
Previously, the DHB had told RNZ a survey would happen some time in the next 12 months.
The DHB was approached for an interview last night but said it could not make a response in such a short timeframe.
Previously, the board has been at pains to tell RNZ that not having a warrant did not mean buildings were unsafe, and
that safety relied more on the active fire protection measures such as evacuation plans. This has been echoed by the Hamilton City Council.
Nine of Waikato Hospital's blocks in Hamilton have had a warrant, which must be renewed annually, for just one year, or
not at all, since 2016.
The Hamilton City Council has been aware of this since 2016 but is taking a more softly-softly approach than Thames, giving the DHB time - years in some cases - to fix the blocks.