Is Fire Alarm Servicing a Legal Requirement?

Maintaining your fire alarm is a legal requirement. Article 17 of the Fire Safety Order tells us that all fire safety equipment should be “maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair” and that this work should be carried out by a ‘competent person’.

That competent person, incidentally, needs to be someone with the right training, experience and knowledge to do the job properly and effectively – not someone who’s just watched a couple of YouTube videos! 

So why does legislation place such emphasis on the importance of maintenance? Surely just having a fire alarm system installed and testing it regularly should be enough, shouldn’t it?  

In this article, the Scutum North team is going to explain why fire alarm maintenance should be treated with the same degree of importance as every other aspect of commercial fire safety.

Why is fire alarm maintenance important?

When you run a business or manage a multi-occupancy residential building, you have many responsibilities and calls on your time – not least of which is keeping your premises and staff or tenants safe from the threat of fire. As well as being a legal requirement under the terms of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, it’s also a very sensible thing to do – according to the London Fire Brigade, some 60% of businesses never recover after a fire.

A good fire alarm system is, of course, one of the cornerstones of any effective fire safety policy. Which type of fire alarm is best for your particular fire risks will be determined by your fire risk assessment, as will the best places to locate your sensors to make sure you get the most reliable and effective results.

Today’s fire alarms are considerably more complex and efficient than earlier models, detecting smoke and excess heat ever faster and with fewer false alarms. But that doesn’t mean that things can’t go wrong. Weekly testing of your alarm conducted by you or your team is important and will determine if some aspects of your system have stopped functioning, but that’s only a small part of what is necessary. 

Only regular professional maintenance can give the whole system the sort of thorough investigation and inspection that will determine whether:

• Key components are on the verge of wearing out
• Your sensors’ effectiveness is being compromised by a buildup of dust and debris
• The control panel is receiving all the information it needs
• Batteries are charged and working properly
• And much more

Your service engineer should also investigate any false alarms that have occurred since the last service to determine the cause and carry out remedial action to prevent them from happening again.

Such maintenance and servicing should be carried out at least every six months, according to BS 5839-1, although for large premises with complex fire safety needs, this could be every three months.

Don’t forget that without regular maintenance, the first time you’ll know that you have a problem with your fire alarm system is when you have a fire and it fails to respond.

What happens if you don’t get your fire alarm serviced?

Your local fire and rescue service has the power to inspect your premises at any time. As part of such an inspection, they are likely to ask to see evidence that you are fully complying with all your fire safety responsibilities. 

When you have your fire alarm serviced, the engineer should provide a written record, detailing any issues that have been identified, any updates that have been made to the system and any faults that have been repaired. If you are unable to provide such evidence, you may be subject to an enforcement notice detailing what improvements need to be made to your fire safety procedures and by when.

However, if you have a fire that results in injury or death, or you continue to fail to meet fire safety regulations, you could be subject to unlimited fines or even imprisonment.

How Scutum North can help

Here at Scutum North, we have the experience, knowledge and training to service all types of fire alarm systems, whether or not we originally installed them. Our engineers can carry out scheduled maintenance or one-off checks to suit your requirements, or investigate any issues you might have noticed during your weekly maintenance.

Don’t take chances, whether by compromising the safety of your business and the people who work or live there, or by failing to meet your legal obligations as a business owner or landlord.

If you’d like to know more, just get in touch with us today to ask for an appointment and a free quotation. Our engineers operate throughout North England, including in and around Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester.