Item - 2020.GL19.10

The General Government and Licensing Committee recommends that:

1. City Council receive the report (November 16, 2020) from the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management for information.

This report provides an annual update on fire and life safety compliance at the City of Toronto ("the City"), as directed by City Council in AU13.11. The report reviews the 2019 compliance, as assessed by a third-party vendor, against the 2017 and 2018 baseline data. While both fire and life safety records completion and compliance rates demonstrate improvement, further work is needed to improve compliance with the Ontario Fire Code. As a result of this compliance review, the City made the decision to change some fire and life safety service providers. These findings indicate a potential need for regulation in the fire and life safety industry, which will be explored further in 2021 by Corporate Real Estate Management in consultation with Toronto Fire Services and other stakeholders.

In 2020, the Fire and Life Safety Program Office continued to implement work to centralize and standardize fire and life safety services across the City, as outlined in GL8.8. Despite challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fire and Life Safety Program Office has made significant progress towards the development and implementation of a Master Fire Program, a comprehensive new Request for Proposal for inspections, testing and maintenance services, and the recruitment of new staff to enable the new service model.