Who We Are

Our Story

Twenty five years ago, in 1998, we opened the doors to Form1 in Newcastle. Back then we were a small and ambitious team of Australian fire protection specialists. When you meet us today you’ll discover a confident group of businesses, strategic management leaders, and experienced technicians and safety specialists, working across multiple branches in NSW and the ACT. At Form1 our intention has always stayed the same – we are passionate about people and serious about safety.

Every day we live by our mission to empower everyday people to make smarter choices. We are proud to lead our industry by training the next generation of world-class safety leaders, and provide quality and personalised safety solutions to help you protect your greatest assets.

For more than 25 years our knowledge, reliability, and efficiency has enabled us to build strong and trusted relationships across a range of industries, including public hospitals and private hospital groups, multi-site aged-care organisations, educational, commercial, industrial, and mining facilities.

Form1 Group includes the following family businesses;

“When I started Form1 I didn’t need to be the biggest company in the industry, I wanted to be the best,” says Form1 Group CEO, Steve Shirlaw.

“I wanted to create a business where our staff looked after each other and genuinely cared about every one of our clients. A place with a strong network of staff, subcontractors, and suppliers. And ultimately, I want all of us to make a difference to people’s lives.”

Our Clients

Clients typically come to Form1 after they have been exposed to risk and forced to make fast and expensive decisions. With the right support, expertise, and education we save our customers time, money, and stress.

Our teams and safety specialists consult, design, supply, install, maintain, certify, and deliver cost-effective fire, air, and electrical solutions, plus provide training, consultancy, and first response, with ongoing maintenance contracts. We are also proud to say many of our clients have been with us since day one.

Across NSW and the ACT our teams service a variety of industries and have extensive experience dealing with large private and government-based institutions. We understand the importance of confidentiality and security within these environments and provide our clients with direct lines of communication to staff, from the CEO and technicians to apprentices and the administration team.

“People, relationships, and safety sit at the heart of everything we do,” says Steve.

“From our office staff and teams in the field, to clients, subcontractors, and suppliers, our number one focus has always been our people – the quality of their work and their personal wellbeing. My dream is that every individual who comes into contact with Form1 is inspired to thrive.

“We know, with the right education, we can empower everyday people to make smarter choices. By sharing our knowledge and training a generation of world-class safety leaders, I believe we can enhance safety and wellbeing on a global scale.”

Form1 By Numbers*

Just because we love stats…

1998

Cool stuff happened the year we were born…