It is vital that you maintain your fire alarm system and regularly check that everything works. It is a requirement to nominate a responsible person to carry out the required checks on the system and is in charge of keeping the alarm system in order. It is important that this person is aware of the procedure of the premises when dealing with a fire, must be trained to understand the indications of the systems and perform the checks that have been stated bellow.
There are a range of checks that the British Standards states must be done to your system, for example;
Daily Check – Ensure all panel indications are normal and any faults that may occur must be recorded in the log book, and reported to the maintenance company to be rectified. Also make sure that any previous faults are seen to.
Weekly Check – The system should be tested by activating a different manual call point each week so each one is tested over time throughout the building and record all of your results in a log book. Also check that nothing obstructs the detectors and call points.
Inspection – The inspection consists of a range of tests to check the system is all in order and meets all the legal requirements. This should be carried out by a fire alarm maintenance company once every 6 months.
Annual Check – Test all call points and detectors to ensure that everything is in full working order.
2/3 Year Check – Thoroughly clean all smoke detectors with the special equipment that is required to do so to ensure that no false alarms are caused and that they are all fully operable.
4 Year Check – Sealed lead acid batteries are to be changed. If the temperature exceeds 25 degrees centigrade continuously at any time before this check the battery may need to be changed sooner.
What to do after a false alarm?
Once the situation has been confirmed as a false alarm, try to identify the call point or detector which caused the alarm to go off before resetting the system. Also try to discover the reason for the false alarm, or make notes of any possible causes from any activities around the area and record the notes into the logbook and inform the company that maintains the system.
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