The Hills Shire Council has called for an audit on medium to highrise buildings after it was revealed that two Castle Hill buildings have failed to meet fire safety standards in recent months.

Hills mayor Yvonne Keane has appealed to the Department of Planning and Environment to review the role, function and the accountability of private certifiers in the certification process.

The move comes after an inspection by Fire and Rescue NSW on a unit complex on Crane Rd revealed several fire safety deficiencies.

The 160-unit complex was found to have an insufficient fire hydrant booster assembly, lack of fire hose reels and an unsatisfactory emergency evacuation route.

The report, tabled at last week’s council meeting, was met with outrage by councillors.

“Do we have to wait until there are body bags?” Cr Tony Hay said.

Last month, the Times reported that a building on Garthowen Crescent was found to have “a number of fire safety deficiencies”.

Cr Keane said the lack of building construction oversight was “nothing short of alarming”.

“I am deeply concerned that this could just be the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

Cr Keane said she was asking the Department of Planning and Environment to “step in and co-ordinate a comprehensive audit of medium to highrise buildings to make sure all residents in Sydney are safe”.

Cr Keane called on the Building Professionals Board, an independent State Government authority that accredits and regulates certifiers in NSW, to give private certifiers tougher fines if developments fail to pass building codes and standards.

“Any certifier that approves a building without the minimum fire safety standards is risking residents’ lives,” she said.

“Some of the penalties I’ve seen given out to private certifiers are around the $5000 – $15,000 mark, which is ridiculous for developments worth tens of millions of dollars.”

She said council had “consistently argued against the use of private certifiers because they remove the independence from the building inspection/certifying process”.

“Council has seen some very bad examples, including the Garthowen Crescent apartment complex, and as a result we’ve had to report these unaccountable private certifiers to the Building Professionals Board for further investigation and action,” she said.

Cr Raymond Harty told the Times that more resources were needed to ensure buildings were “properly inspected”.

He said he would bring up the issue at the June meeting of the Local Government NSW Board, where he sits as a director along with Cr Keane.

Cr Harty said he would ask LGNSW to make a submission to the State Government about “addressing the serious issues of defects in highrise apartments, the role of the Professional Standards Board and how this is going to be policed”.

“This has got to be an issue for the State Government,” he said.

Cr Harty said it was a “very big issue” given the amount of highrise developments that would be built around The Hills district, particularly around the Sydney Metro Northwest train stations.

“We’ve had two high profile ones identified in the last few weeks but how many more are out there that we don’t know about?” he said.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman said the council had written to the Minister for Planning Anthony Roberts and the Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Matt Kean requesting “investigations be conducted into the standard of certification of apartment buildings and the actions of the Building Professionals Board in relation to apartment building errors being passed on as acceptable by private certifiers”.

“Council is currently awaiting their response on these matters,” the spokeswoman said.