Rotary meeting 8 October 2019
Guests: Ms Alex McNamara, colleague of guest speaker.
No visiting Rotarians.
Announcements:
Peter Duras announced that sausage sizzles raised $5,500 so far this year.
He has a gap in the roster on the afternoon of 1/11 at Bunnings Port Melbourne. Please contact Peter if you can help.
Martin Langton is promoting the Australian Rotary Health program, Lift the Lid on Mental Illness. At our meeting on 22 October, Martin will be fining members $5 for wearing funny hats and $7 if not wearing a hat. All proceeds to Australian Rotary Health.
Kevin Love announced that the VicPol Leadership Mentoring Program will be launched next Tuesday, 15th October. Martin Langton, Des Benjamin, Elias Lebbos and Michelle Crawford are mentors for RCM.
Kevin also reminded members about the second hand trinket stall at Camberwell Market. If you have saleable items, email Veronica with details.
Alan Seale announced that 24 October is world polio day. The WHO recently announced that the African region is now polio-free. The Middle East still a challenge.
There will be a Rotary walk around Albert Park lake to raise awareness.
On 29 October a speaker from Polio Australia will present to the club.
Gerard Hogan has organised a club social event for members and guests. Come along on 25 October to Campari Bar, 23-25 Hardware Lane, city rooftop bar 6pm. All welcome.
Brett Jones conducted a member interview with Daniel Lim.
Daniel is a civil engineer with Boral. He grew up in Malaysia and studied engineering in Leeds.
He is now studying at Melbourne Business School.
Well known as a foodie, Daniel is a local distributor for a truffle importer.
He loves doing things for the community and is part of the Docklands community.
Guest speaker:
Joel Jenkins spoke about the Victorian statewide cladding audit
The task force was established in June 2017 following Grenfell tower fire in which 70 people perished.
The task force looked specifically at two types of products which are known to be combustible. They continue to investigate product labelling, compliance and failure of the regulatory system.
Initial focus was on 1369 priority projects which led to the statewide cladding audit methodology rolled out. The task force concentrated on:
Class 2 buildings, apartments;
Class 3 buildings, over 3 storeys, short-stay accommodation; and
Class 9, public use buildings (vulnerable occupants e.g. aged care, child care, schools).
They physically inspected 2500 buildings, and this work led to referrals to an advisory reference panel, then recommendations. Over 1200 buildings were found to have combustible cladding, placing them in the higher risk category.
The audit findings included:
Poorly maintained essential safety measures, e.g. alarms and sprinklers
Materials commonly substituted between design and build stages
Extensive use of cladding for Type A construction which require non-combustible materials
Buildings designed with single point of egress and without fire and smoke isolation.
The audit also revealed that essential safety measures had been compromised. For example:
A number of buildings had complex designs and owners’ corporations sometimes don’t understand that complexity.
Some smoke alarms were tampered with.
This was an absorbing presentation, followed by many questions, too many for the time available. The topic was highly relevant to our audience and it showed the rigour that has been applied by the task force to resolving this risk to occupant safety in Victoria.
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