Commercial Fire Alarm Maintenance & Servicing Requirements

Thirty seconds! That's all it takes. Thirty short seconds: time for a seemingly small fire to begin taking hold and spread. Give it another five minutes, and as long as its three core elements – heat, oxygen, and fuel – are sustained, it may already be out of control. And the longer a fire goes undetected, the more destructive its power will become.

That's why having an appropriate and COMPLIANT fire alarm system as part of your fire protection measures is vital.

Because a fire will be detected much sooner with an alarm installed - buying valuable time.

Time for those inside a building to escape. And time to tackle a blaze before it gets out of control.

But an alarm isn't just vital for fire safety, it's also a legal requirement.

Under UK fire safety regulations, you must have a compliant fire alarm system installed if you have five or more staff on site.

But did you know this law also requires you to have your alarm system regularly serviced and maintained? To make sure it stays compliant.

WHAT ARE THE LEGAL REQUIREMENTS FOR FIRE ALARM MAINTENANCE?

Part of British Standard BS 5839, this legal requirement stipulates that all commercial fire alarm systems must be regularly serviced and maintained by a professionally accredited service engineer.

These regulations also require a detailed record of each service visit to be made and kept on file.

In addition to this, your company's 'Responsible Person' must also undertake their own regular inspections and tests as part of your business's ongoing fire risk assessment.

As well as BS 5839, fire alarm systems also come under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Replacing several older laws and regulations, it covers all aspects, including installation, maintenance, and testing.

So, how often does your fire alarm system need to be checked and serviced?

What is the servicing frequency for a commercial Fire Alarm system?

Just how often you need your Fire Alarm system serviced depends, to some extent, on the size of your business premises. And what fire risks your business may have.

In most cases, an accredited engineer must inspect and service your whole fire alarm system every six months. However, a visit every three months is more likely to be recommended if you have extensive business premises. Or the nature of your business means you have a higher fire risk than most.

Your own inspections should be carried out at least monthly. And ideally, weekly.

What does commercial Fire Alarm servicing and maintenance involve?

Commercial fire alarm systems vary in size and complexity.

Sometimes they're connected to additional fire protection equipment, such as fire roller shutters.

Sprinklers or other fire suppressant systems may also be linked. So too, can heat and smoke detectors. Some are also remotely monitored.

But whatever elements make up your fire alarm system, they must all be serviced on a regular basis to comply with all relevant UK fire safety regulations. This also applies to equipment such as fire extinguishers, fire hose reels, and emergency lighting.

So, what does a MAC fire alarm maintenance plan involve?

Fire alarm servicing consists of 2 services per annum testing 50% of the system each time to ensure the system works as it should when it's required.

We test all equipment by using our specialist smoke testing kits smoking the detectors to simulate fire and active the panel

Pressing call points and reseting the panel

Testing the batteries and the current loads of the control panel

Testing signals back trough to the monitoring station

Providing staff training to ensure they know how to us it properly and getting the staff to fill out the fire alarm log book which we check on each service to make sure there doing there weekly tests.

Your company's 'Responsible Person' should also test your fire alarms weekly. For these tests, it's best to conduct them on the same day each week. That way, they are less likely to be confused with a real alarm situation.

The control panel will indicate any obvious faults within the system. Whenever spotted, these should be reported immediately and be professionally rectified by an engineer as quickly as possible.

As part of your fire risk assessment you should also identify any changes made to the structure of your premises, or changes to procedures or working practices that may affect your assessment.

If you think they might, a BAFE accredited fire alarm maintenance company like MAC Security will happily advise you on what additional fire safety measures you may need.

Without a functioning fire alarm system you're putting lives and your business at unnecessary risk.

There are other potential consequences too. For minor breaches of fire safety compliance, you could be fined up to £5,000. And for a major breach, you face an unlimited fine and up to two-years in prison. And possibly both.

COMMERCIAL FIRE ALARM MAINTENANCE NEAR ME?

At MAC Security, we often get calls from business owners who have fire alarm maintenance contracts with other providers.

The owner is not happy with the service they are receiving. They are not totally confident that their system is compliant.

Because their fire alarm maintenance is not carried out regularly.

Or they don't have faith in the skills, knowledge or expertise of the fire alarm engineer who is doing the maintenance.

And then they fail their next Fire Risk Assessment and have to get things fixed fast.

If you're not happy with the people doing your fire alarm maintenance, get in touch ASAP. MAC Security can make sure your system is compliant.
BEFORE your next assessment!

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