Fire Alarm Servicing
It is sad to say that fire alarm servicing is somewhat of an afterthought for many London business owners. Few owners or managers really know how often you should be servicing your fire alarms and may only remember to do this when they notice that their fire alarms have a thick layer of dust sitting on them.
So, how often is OK? To answer this you need to first look at the kind of industry that you are in. Should you operate a business where you are producing or handling materials, gasses or liquids of a highly flammable nature, then you will have a more pressing need to ensure that your fire alarms are always in full working order.
Current UK fire alarm legislation
Under current UK fire alarm legislation as detailed in The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, all fire alarm and detection systems should be installed and maintained in accordance with the relevant British Standard, BS 5839.
This means that that although the regulations state that your fire alarm system must be ‘adequately maintained’, to meet with BS 5839 compliance, your non-domestic workplace fire alarm system should be inspected and serviced at least every 6 months and the government recommends that business owners follow this standard.
Even though the six-month fire alarm service recommendation is pretty much standard across the board, if you operate your business out of larger premises, a quarterly fire alarm inspection and service is recommended. This is because there are many more essential components to check, test and replace in your fire alarm system. This means that there will be more opportunities for something to go wrong with your fire protection system.
Why fire alarm servicing is so important
The most obvious reason for keeping your fire alarms in full working order is so that they can act as an early warning system to alert your employees and other building occupants to the danger of a fire outbreak and to prevent the loss of life.
A very valid second reason for regularly servicing your fire alarms is to reduce or even prevent the chances of sounding false alarms. Poorly maintained or serviced fire alarms trigger thousands of false fire alarms each year, costing thousands of pounds in wasted time and effort on behalf of the fire service.
While the fire brigade may be busy attending your false fire alarm, this takes them away from real-life emergencies that can be truly life-threatening. How would you feel if your false fire alarm caused more harm and destruction elsewhere in a real emergency in another part of London?
What is worse, a call out to a false fire alarm these days can land you in serious hot water with the emergency services and can see you being fined for your false call-out. These charges were introduced by the fire service in an effort to encourage business owners to keep their fire alarms better maintained with regular servicing.
Remember that you have a legal responsibly to provide a safe environment for your staff, the public and any persons that might visit your premises. When was the last time you had your fire alarms serviced?
Contact our friendly team at DRAM Fire & Security about getting your workplace fire alarms thoroughly inspected and serviced. We are here to help!