emergency assistance

For emergency assistance

If you have a police, fire or ambulance emergency call triple zero (000)

Is it an emergency?

Emergency is generally classed as a situation that is likely to cause injury, illness or property damage if left untreated.

Medical & Health	Ambulance - 000 Poisons helpline - 13 11 26 13Health service - 13 432 584
Flood & storm emergency assistance	State Emegency Service (SES) - 132 500

Your obligations

In an emergency situation, often the exact cause of an issue will not be known immediately. As a resident within a body corporate development you are required to:

Take reasonable steps to mitigate further risk or damage (e.g. if there is a water leak, put a bucket and a towel down to dry the water)
Take steps that mitigate the risk in a cost-effective way (e.g. if the power goes out at 2am, wait until morning to call an electrician to minimise the cost)
Do not assume that costs will be reimbursed, make conservative decisions to the extent that you can do so safely.

Is it a body corporate maintenance responsibility?

Consider whether the problem is just affecting your lot/property, or if it is also affecting other lots within your development.

For example, if your apartment/lot has no hot water but your neighbours do, that generally indicates the issue is with your own lot, and is not a body corporate issue.

Will the issue result in an insurance claim?

Insurance may respond to sudden damage (e.g. storm damage, break-in, burst-pipe, fire, vehicle impact).

Insurance generally does not respond to issues that are due to a maintenance failure (e.g. hot water system stops working due to deterioration of parts).

Insurance companies generally do not provide emergency assistance, but may consider the details of a claim during their normal business hours. It is usually still up to the owner of the lot to deal with their own emergency situation, and then to make an insurance claim after the event.

BCsystems has an insurance claim form on our website: Insurance claim – BCsystems | Strata Management

For emergency insurance advice (including whether you are entitled to temporary accommodation under an insurance policy) – please contact your insurer. Your insurer’s name will be shown on your most recent AGM minutes in the insurance motion.

Strata Community Insurance (SCI) policy holders – 1300 724 678

Direct Insurance Brokers (for any policy not held with SCI) – 07 3866 5444

Emergency contacts & advice

BUILDING MANAGER

If your body corporate has a building manager, on-site manager or caretaker, contact them first for emergency assistance under their contract with your body corporate.

Service & utilities

Electrical	Network provider: Energex – 13 19 62 or Outage Finder – Energex If the issue is affecting only your lot: Check your switchboard to see if any safety switch has tripped. If so, try unplugging your appliances and re-setting the switch as a faulty toaster or kettle can cause power to trip. Contact an electrician if the situation is an emergency, including if a person in the home relies on electricity for a life-aid system. Fallon Solutions – 1300 054 488 Platinum Electrical – 1300 606 380
Water	Network provider: Queensland Urban Utilities – 13 23 64 or Water service interruptions – Queensland Urban Utilities If you lose general water supply, check with your neighbours. If there is a maintenance outage, it usually affects multiple streets, not just one body corporate or one unit. If the water outage only affects your lot, it may be a failed tap or valve, and generally a plumber will be required. RTL Plumbing – 1300 000 785 or after-hours 0402 089 128 Fallon Solutions – 1300 054 488 RPGS – 07 3276 8833
Sewer	Check with your neighbours – if multiple lots have a similar issue that may indicate a blockage or failure on the Council property, or on the body corporate common property. If the issue is only affecting your lot (e.g. blocked shower drain) and you cannot use an alternate shower within your property – you may call an emergency plumber which will generally be your own cost. RTL Plumbing – 1300 000 785 or after-hours 0402 089 128 Fallon Solutions – 1300 054 488 RPGS – 07 3276 8833
Hot water	Hot water systems may be shared (multiple lots using the same system), or individual to each lot. If your hot water stops working, check with your neighbours to see if it is just you, or the whole complex. If it is an individual system just for your lot, you will generally be responsible for the cost. Most plumbers will be able to talk you through re-starting the system to see if you can get it working again without a callout fee. RTL Plumbing – 1300 000 785 or after-hours 0402 089 128 Fallon Solutions – 1300 054 488 RPGS – 07 3276 8833
Gas	If your gas supply is interrupted, contact your gas retailer (e.g. Origin, AGL etc)

Building elements

Roof & gutters	Roofs and gutters may leak during rainfall. Individual leaks where there is no visual damage to the roof are usually able to be addressed by a normal plumber. RTL Plumbing – 1300 000 785 or after-hours 0402 089 128 Fallon Solutions – 1300 054 488 RPGS – 07 3276 8833 If the roof has sustained damage (e.g. fallen tree branch, wind damage) – that may be a task for a plumber or a roofer, depending on the scale of the damage. For significant roof damage, contact the SES – 132 500 Note: Roofs usually cannot be repaired during rain for safety reasons. If a roof leak develops, you will generally need to wait until the weather clears before the roof can be repaired. Use common sense to minimise damage if this occurs.
Glass	Broken glass windows and doors can usually be replaced on-site, and are often not covered by the body corporate. Express Glass – 13 12 18 O’Brien Glass – 1800 642 378
Building	Damage to buildings will generally need to be made-safe temporarily. Examples include: Damaged doors during a burglary Damage due to a fire (where the property remains habitable) Vehicle impact damage to buildings Emergency make-safe builders: WCS Build – 1300 247 927 ICM Project Solutions – 1300 206 141 365 Services Group – 1300 143 800
Locks	If you live in an apartment building and have a restricted security key system (usually a heavy key, or a twin-blade key), you must contact the locksmith shown on the key for any key and lock issues. For smaller apartment buildings, or townhouses with ordinary locks and keys, you can generally call any locksmith. Ideal Locksmiths – 0419 551 022 Amalgamated Locksmiths – 07 3252 7872
Garage doors	If you have a private garage on your lot, this is generally your responsibility to investigate and repair. Queensland Door Doctors – 0417 620 336 Purple Patch Doors – 07 3277 6892 If you have a door or gate which is shared (e.g, gate into underground carpark), this will generally be covered by a service contract, or will have a specific contractor to call out. Contact your building manager, or committee for more information about shared garage doors or shared gates.

Other emergencies

For other emergencies, you can contact our on-call emergency strata manager on 0428 744 099 (call only, do not SMS).

Please note this is an advice service, and it will generally still be up to the affected owner to arrange repairs, depending on the issue. The service is only available to BCsystems clients, and is charged to your body corporate.