COMPLIANCE | EDITORIAL
IMAGE Diliff
DODGY BUILDING PRODUCTS ARE
EVERYONE’ S RESPONSIBILITY
RODGER HILLS
Executive Officer, Building Products Innovation Council
Over the last decade, there has been a shift in the building products supply chain to an increased use of offshore sources, along with a decreased level of local manufacturing of these products( with the exception of site-specific local manufacture, like ready mixed concrete). At the same time, the ease of purchasing online has brought into the market an abundance of products from both domestic and international sources. This has allowed buyers to source small quantities and new products, locate niche manufacturers and buy cheaper alternatives to what might have been specified or requested.
In the past, buyers relied on the advice of technical professionals, such as architects and engineers, to provide guidance about the best value-for-money and reliable products to use in particular building situations, and the most reliable supply channels. These days, such professional advice is often seen as an unnecessary burden or expense, particularly where many buildings are constructed as designand-construct.
But problems often begin because builders and contractors may have limited specific product performance experience and they may even be self-assessing their own imported products and equipment. Once products purchased this way enter the supply chain, the provenance is lost and seeking a remedy when a problem arises becomes extremely difficult.
Hand in hand with the increase in direct procurement of products by builders and contractors has been the rapid increase in fraudulent product certification documentation. Without experienced technical professionals overseeing the purchasing process, the whole supply chain has become vulnerable to gaming and fraud.
The intentional manipulation and / or counterfeiting of product certification documentation has become big business. It can also take many forms, including manufacturers submitting nonrepresentative products to a registered testing authority and using these‘ golden’ test results to market their products. Suppliers might use testing authorities that appear to be legitimate but aren’ t, or might test products to a standard that appears to be equivalent to one referenced in the National Construction Code( NCC), but isn’ t. Product labelling can be selective, incomplete, misleading or just plain wrong and there is no recourse to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission( ACCC) because the majority of building products are not covered under consumer law.
The problem doesn’ t stop there. Once a lower grade of product than that specified is installed, it is almost impossible to detect. After the paint is dry, most products are permanently out of sight.
And, if you think the problem of poor quality products and conforming products used for the wrong application is not that big a deal, the Lacrosse building fire in Melbourne( November 2014) and the recent Grenfell Towers fire in London should be ample evidence of the seriousness of the problem. The rapid and high-
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