Experts fear another Melbourne apartment block found to have non-compliant building cladding could become a death trap – because it has no sprinklers installed.

The Victorian Building Authority (VBA) is checking 170 sites following the blaze at the Lacrosse apartments in the city’s Docklands last November.

The fire, started by a cigarette dropped on a balcony, raced up the exterior due to flammable cladding imported from China and not tested to Australian standards.

The VBA audit has discovered a number of other buildings using non-compliant cladding – the latest being the Harvest apartments at 144-150 Clarendon Street, Southbank.

Despite the presence of the cladding, the Municipal Building Surveyor has deemed the building safe to occupy.

Fire Protection Association Australia CEO Scott Williams told insuranceNEWS.com.au that because the building is below 25 metres in height, there is no legal obligation to install a sprinkler system.

“The only sprinklers are in the basement car park,” he said. “The fact is, there is nothing to suppress a fire. The only reason Lacrosse was not catastrophic is that sprinklers performed beyond capacity and contained the blaze.

“We feel very strongly [about this issue] and will be penning a number of letters to put on record that we disagree with the declaration this building is safe to occupy.

“We are astonished that the surveyor can make that determination – it’s just unbelievable.

“We think this building is a significant risk and we are getting sick of the lack of action.”

Meanwhile, cladding on Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital has failed combustibility tests.

A spokesman for Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy insists “independent advice” confirms the building is safe to occupy.

“All patients at the Royal Women’s Hospital can be assured there is no immediate risk to their health or safety because of this cladding,” the spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“The minister has requested the contractor provide urgent advice confirming the compliance of the cladding system with building safety standards.

“The minister has directed the [health] department to work with the contractor to confirm any necessary action to ensure compliance with the building code.”

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade has flagged six Melbourne buildings as warranting an “enhanced response” due to cladding concerns.

They are the Lacrosse building; Harvest apartments; Royal Women’s Hospital; the Comprehensive Cancer Centre; Royal Freemasons Homes of Victoria; and the Aura Serviced Apartments in Flinders Street.

“These enhanced responses have been put in place as a consequence of cladding issues,” a brigade spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“An enhanced response means sending an increased number of fire trucks and firefighters or a different combination of firefighters and fire trucks to an incident than is sent under a normal assignment rule.”