Fire Safety Plans don’t fail on paper, they fail in execution: a perspective for Ontario condominium boards
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a number of conversations with condominium managers and directors across Ontario following the recent Toronto fire and the charges that have been laid.
First and foremost, I want to acknowledge something. The condominium management community, site staff, and contractors across this province are doing incredibly important work every single day. You are the ones carrying the responsibility of keeping people safe in complex, high-risk environments, often with limited resources and increasing expectations.
At National Life Safety Group, we are proud to support this industry. We see the effort, the professionalism, and the commitment across teams. But moments like this also create an opportunity to pause and reflect. Not to assign blame, but to better understand where risk actually lives, and how we can strengthen the systems that support the people responsible for safety on the ground.
Based on the recent incident and the many conversations I’ve had since, I want to share five important realities that every condominium director in Ontario should understand.
1. Fire Safety Plan approval does not equal compliance
Having an approved Fire Safety Plan is only the starting point.
Compliance is not the document, it’s the execution. The Ontario Fire Code requires that the plan be implemented. If it’s not actively understood, followed, and executed on-site, it becomes little more than a document sitting at the front of the building.
2. The corporation owns the risk
Tasks can be delegated. Liability cannot.
Boards rely on condominium managers, staff, and contractors to carry out responsibilities, and rightly so. But from a regulatory standpoint, accountability remains with the corporation.
Governance is not passive, and it requires active oversight, informed decision-making, and a clear understanding of what is actually happening at the building level.
While directors are not typically considered “supervisory staff” under the Fire Code, they are part of the “owner.” That means they are ultimately responsible for ensuring that:
the Fire Safety Plan is being implemented
staff are properly trained
systems are in place to demonstrate compliance
One challenge we continue to hear: managers raise training requirements, and boards question whether it’s truly necessary.
If you’re a manager in that position, document it. Minute it. Protect yourself and your team. These are not easy conversations, but they are important ones.
3. Training is not optional, and it’s not one-size-fits-all
Training is required under both the Ontario Fire Code and the Occupational Health and Safety Act, but more importantly, it is the foundation of executing that "approved" plan.
Historically, training has often been limited to: how to use the fire alarm panel, voice communications and calling 911. But staff responsibilities go far beyond that, many of them are carried out hourly, daily, weekly, and in non-emergency conditions.
Staff need to understand their roles. Managers need to know what to verify. Boards need to know what to expect. And that training must be site-specific, tied directly to the building, its unique systems, and its risks.
A common challenge we continue to see at the board level is the assumption that:
security companies fully cover staff training
fire alarm technicians fulfill training requirements
In practice, this often leaves managers working really really hard to bridge that gap.
But the intent of the Fire Code is clear: The expectation under the Fire Code is that the owner , through their management team, can demonstrate that supervisory staff have been properly trained to understand and execute their responsibilities.
4. Not all training is equal
This is where we continue to see one of the most significant gaps across the industry.
Generic or mass online training can help establish a baseline, but it often falls short in preparing people for real conditions and can be difficult to defend if scrutinized.
Effective training in any workplace in ontario is:
building (or Fire Safety Plan specific)
role-based
delivered by qualified professionals
aligned with recognized standards
Because when something goes wrong, the question is not just: “Was training provided?” It becomes: “Was it appropriate, credible, and defensible?”
5. Documentation will define the outcome
After an incident, documentation is one of the first things requested. Training records. Procedures. Evidence of due diligence. Organizations that can produce clear, structured, and credible documentation are in a fundamentally different position than those that cannot.
This is not theoretical, it’s how these situations unfold.
So where does this leave us?
The organizations that are leading right now are taking a layered approach:
Staff training — building-specific, role-based, documented
Management oversight — clear accountability and reporting
Board awareness — understanding obligations and validating compliance
This is not about adding an administrative burden, it’s about creating clarity, alignment, and support across the entire system in your community, so that when something happens, your people are prepared, and your organization is protected.
A final thought.
When a Fire Safety Plan is properly understood, trained, and executed, the first and most important outcome is this, it protects the people who live in the building. That’s where this all begins.
For staff, training provides clarity and confidence. It gives them the ability to act, not hesitate, before, and when something happens. It helps them understand not just what to do, but why it matters, and how their actions directly impact the safety of others.
And for boards, it provides assurance. Confidence that they’ve met their obligations, that they’ve supported their teams, and that they’ve taken reasonable steps to protect both occupants and the corporation.
Training is so much more than a compliance exercise. When it’s done properly, the return extends far beyond the classroom. It strengthens your people, supports your operations, and carries through the entire building, and into the community. And when it matters most, it ensures your organization can stand behind the decisions it has made.
A brief note
Over the past several years, this is the gap we’ve been focused on addressing.
At National Life Safety Group, we’ve invested heavily in developing an accredited training program designed specifically for Ontario’s condominium environment, supporting board awareness, management oversight, and the execution responsibilities of supervisory staff.
The program is delivered by NFPA-recognized fire and life safety educators, is endorsed by CRMAO, and accredited by the Institution of Fire Engineers (Canada Branch) to meet the requirements in Ontario.
Not as a product, but as a practical response to what we continue to see across the industry. If this is an area you’re navigating, we’re always here as a resource.