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NSW apartment blocks will be required to undergo annual fire safety checks under a proposed overhaul of the laws governing how buildings are certified.
The planned changes will include a stricter accreditation process for people in charge of certifications and more frequent checks of building owners who may be paying their own certifiers.
The move follows a review of the legislation that was highly critical of the way commercial and apartment buildings are certified and accredited as fire safe.
A coronial inquest into a fatal Sydney apartment block fire in 2012 found a string of individual and systemic failures led to student Connie Zhang's death, including the building developer and strata manager's lax attitude to safety.
Ms Zhang's parents called for changes to building regulations after the findings came down last year.
"Certifiers play a critical role in the building process and these reforms will ensure safety and confidence in the system," Regulation Minister Victor Dominello said.
The laws were especially imperative considering the construction boom NSW was currently experiencing.
The proposed laws will implement more annual inspections during and after a building's construction, and tighter controls on who performs certain fire safety roles.
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