Johannesburg Fire Compliance: What the By-Law Actually Requires of Your Business

What does Johannesburg’s by-law actually expect for fire-fighting equipment?

Owning extinguishers isn’t the requirement — proving they’re maintained is. Every building owner in Johannesburg must ensure fire-fighting equipment and service installations are kept in a condition ready for use, and that portable and mobile extinguishers and hose reels are serviced according to the relevant SABS standards. That’s the baseline for every building, whether or not it stores anything hazardous.

Where the obligation gets sharper is the paperwork behind the equipment. The by-law requires a comprehensive service record to be maintained and actively furnished to the Chief Fire Officer every 12 months — not just kept on file for an inspector to find. Whoever services the equipment must certify in writing that it’s fully functional, or notify the Chief Fire Officer in writing if it can’t be readily repaired. Interfering with, damaging or rendering ineffective any fire-fighting equipment outside of genuine servicing is a separate contravention in its own right.

Premises holding a certificate of registration — meaning anywhere storing flammable substances or dangerous goods above the thresholds covered below — carry additional obligations: extinguishers sized to the specific risk and area (not a flat ratio), hose reels connected to a compliant water supply, hydrants where applicable, and, for above-ground facilities, a sprinkler or deluge system approved by the Chief Fire Officer. If the Chief Fire Officer considers a premises an exceptional hazard, they can require a different type or greater number of extinguishers, or a fire detection system, over and above what the by-law otherwise sets. This is exactly the kind of premises-specific judgement call that trips up businesses assuming a generic extinguisher count is enough.

When does storing flammable liquid or gas become a regulated activity in Johannesburg?

The by-law sets specific exemption thresholds — cross them and you need a certificate of registration, whether or not you think of your business as an industrial site:

• Liquefied petroleum gas: broadly 9 kg per flat, 19 kg inside a house or commercial premises (with an overall site maximum), or 19 kg per 600 m³ of industrial building space.
• Flammable and combustible liquids: a low-flash-point liquid (below roughly 38°C) is exempt only up to 40 litres; higher-flash-point liquids are grouped together with a combined exemption around 210 litres.

These aren’t obscure industrial quantities — a workshop with a few drums of thinners, a generator’s day tank, or a commercial kitchen’s LPG supply can cross them without anyone realising. Once you’re over threshold, the by-law imposes its own construction and safety standards on how that substance is stored — the point worth knowing is that these standards exist and are specific (ventilation, fire-rated construction, electrical restrictions, signage), not what the exact dimensions are. Getting this wrong isn’t usually deliberate — it’s a business that never had someone check what their actual storage volumes trigger.

Which dangerous goods categories need to be registered?

Johannesburg’s by-law groups dangerous goods into classes — gases, flammable liquids, flammable solids, oxidising agents and organic peroxides, toxic and infective substances, corrosive and caustic substances, radioactive materials, and miscellaneous substances — each with its own exemption quantity before a certificate of registration is required. The range is wide and the thresholds tighten fast: some toxic substance categories are regulated from as little as 5 kg, while some corrosives have exemptions running into the hundreds of kilograms. A business handling more than one category at once needs to check each one separately — the exemptions don’t combine.

Where a certificate of registration is required, the premises, the specific quantities and the storage devices must all match what’s on the certificate — any change in what you store, or how much, can invalidate it. The Chief Fire Officer also keeps a running record of every registered premises, which is part of how these things get flagged during an inspection or a claim.

Does your business need a spray booth permit?

This is the requirement most businesses miss entirely, because it applies more broadly than “spray booth” suggests. Johannesburg’s by-law prohibits spraying, coating, plating or epoxy-coating any vehicle, article, object or building with a flammable substance unless you hold a spraying permit and the work happens in a spraying room approved by the Chief Fire Officer on registered premises. That covers panel beaters and vehicle resprayers obviously, but also furniture refinishers, powder coaters, sign makers, and any manufacturing operation that epoxy-coats or plates parts using a flammable substance.

The by-law dedicates an entire chapter — sixteen separate sections — to spraying rooms specifically: design and construction, window glazing, flooring, electrical equipment, permitted locations, access, ventilation, fire dampers and alarms, ventilation outlet design, signage, manifold installations, general prohibitions, and the fire extinguishing equipment required inside the room itself. That level of detail signals how seriously this activity is treated relative to general storage — and how easily an informal spray area set up without a permit or a proper room becomes a compliance and insurance liability.

What paperwork does a Johannesburg business actually need to keep straight?

Once equipment, storage and any spraying activity are accounted for, the certificates follow as a consequence rather than a starting point. A certificate of registration covers flammable substance or dangerous goods storage above threshold; a separate spraying permit covers any spray-painting or coating room; and a certificate of fitness applies specifically where a building or temporary structure is used for public gatherings — worth knowing exists, but a smaller slice of most businesses’ actual risk than the other three.

What matters more than the labels is how easily these get cancelled. The Chief Fire Officer can cancel a certificate of registration or certificate of fitness if there’s reason to believe the by-law isn’t being complied with — normally with written notice and at least 20 days to respond, but immediately and without notice if there’s reason to believe the failure could endanger a person or property. A business operating on the assumption that “we have the certificate, so we’re fine” can find that assumption wrong the moment an inspector notices the equipment records aren’t being furnished, or the storage has crept over threshold.

What happens if a Johannesburg business gets this wrong?

Any contravention of the by-law, failure to comply with a notice or lawful instruction, or obstruction of an authorised Council representative is an offence, carrying a fine or, in default of payment, imprisonment for up to six months. Where the contravention continues after written notice from the Council, there’s an additional fine of up to R50 (or a day’s imprisonment in default) for every day it continues — a figure that hasn’t been updated since the by-law was written in 2003, but that’s still enforceable exactly as written. Beyond the criminal penalty, the more immediate business risk is usually the certificate cancellation itself: no certificate of registration means the premises can’t legally continue storing what it’s storing, and no spraying permit means the spray area has to stop operating.

This article summarises the Johannesburg Emergency Services By-laws for general guidance and is not legal advice. By-laws are amended from time to time — confirm current requirements with the City of Johannesburg Fire & Rescue Service before relying on this summary for a specific site.

Written by Jaco Coetzer, Altrafire.