Summary
Australia's federal Premises Standards contain hearing-augmentation, coverage, receiver and sign provisions separately from the National Construction Code.
Key findings
- Section 2.1 covers specified new buildings, new and affected parts of existing buildings, and existing public transport buildings subject to target dates. New-building and new-part definitions use approval applications on or after 1 May 2011, with corresponding rules for Crown work without an application. The affected part includes the principal pedestrian entrance and the route to the new part.
- Section 3.1 imposes duties on building developers, managers and the other persons identified in section 2.2. Section 3.2 identifies deemed-to-satisfy provisions and preserves other ways to satisfy the applicable performance requirements, including access at least equal to that provided by those provisions. Section 4.1 provides an unjustifiable-hardship exception, while requiring access to the maximum extent that does not involve such hardship.
- Access Code D3.7(1) requires hearing augmentation where inbuilt amplification, other than emergency-warning-only amplification, is installed in a Class 9b room; an auditorium, conference room, meeting room or room for judicatory purposes; or a ticket office, teller's booth, reception area or similar location where the public is screened from the service provider.
- D3.7(2) requires a loop to cover at least 80% of the floor area served by the amplification system. A system requiring receivers or similar devices must reach at least 95% of that area.
- For receiver systems D3.7(2)(b) specifies at least two receivers or one per 25 persons up to 500, whichever is greater; 20 plus one per 33 persons over 500 up to 1,000; 35 plus one per 50 over 1,000 up to 2,000; and 55 plus one per 100 over 2,000. Each increment includes any part thereof. D3.7(3) refers to BCA D1.13 for calculating persons accommodated. No hearing-aid-compatible share is specified here.
- In a building required to be accessible, D3.6(a)-(b) requires braille and tactile identification of spaces with hearing augmentation and an in-room sign with the international symbol for deafness giving the system type, coverage area and receiver collection location if receivers are used.
- The hearing provisions D3.6-D3.7 name induction loops and systems requiring receivers; they do not name Auracast or Bluetooth.
Limits
The date is the compilation date; the authorised copy was registered on 20 December 2024. Read the scope, requirements and exceptions in Parts 2-4 and Access Code D3.6-D3.7. The table's hearing provisions do not reproduce every exception, building classification or transport target date. No conclusion is drawn about a particular building or an alternative solution.
Read the original
www.legislation.gov.au/F2010L00668/2024-11-23/2024-11-23/text/original/pdf
Cited in
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Cite this source
Australian Government. Disability (Access to Premises — Buildings) Standards 2010, Compilation No. 3 (23 November 2024). Federal Register of Legislation; compilation prepared by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. 23 November 2024. https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2010L00668/2024-11-23/2024-11-23/text/original/pdf (accessed 13 October 2026).
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