A certification framework for managing the risks of non-compliance and non-conformance building products: A Western Australian perspective

Purpose: Many audits, subsequent to various fire incidents, revealed that the failure to prevent the use of non-compliant and non-conforming building products earlier in the process have been mainly attributed to the inability of the existing building and building product certification processes to mitigate the risks of having non-compliance and non-conformance. This paper presents findings from a research project in Western Australia (WA) set up to evaluate and manage the risks of non-compliance and non-conformance of building products, with a specific focus on (although not limited to) aluminum composite panels as an external cladding material, across the project processes by mapping the lifecycle of building products used in building projects. The research is underpinned by the basic principles of risk management applied in the construction industry but considering the impact of the regulatory environment. Design/methodology/approach: Lessons learnt from various jurisdictions indicated a real need for reform to the current building and building product certification processes unique to a jurisdiction in order to better manage such risks in these jurisdictions. This research focuses on a specific jurisdiction, namely the WA. The methodology used to gather and analyse data was both a quantitative and qualitative approach, facilitated through administering an online questionnaire followed by validation and refinement of interviews involving practitioners from WA. Findings: The findings demonstrated that mitigating such risks will be feasible if an integrated and concerted approach is applied. Such a holistic approach has also unveiled specific potential reforms to the current building product certification framework that could be implemented to mitigate such risks. All of these led to the development of an idealised building product certification framework as the main contributions of this research. Originality/value: The proposed idealised framework can be used as the framework to instigate reforms aiming to reduce the risks of allowing non-compliant and non-conforming building products within the WA jurisdiction. Whilst the framework was developed using the data from, and therefore aimed for the WA jurisdiction, the methodology applied here can be used as the basis to develop further frameworks in other jurisdictions.