Is it Important for Facilities to have an Annual Fire Alarm Inspection Performed?

While having a fire alarm system professionally installed at your facility is an excellent measure to help mitigate your fire risk, having an excellent monitoring company paired with annual inspections enables you to ensure the system is functioning properly and will be reliable in the event of an actual fire.

Most all counties will require facilities have an annual inspection performed, and typically insurance providers will request a copy of the inspection reports after the inspection is completed. If you are missing these, the insurance company would have a legal right to dispute or deny any claims. Worse is if a fire should occur in your facility, and someone is injured or killed, you could end up with a costly legal nightmare.

Remember, your facility's fire alarm system is a part of your front-line defense in the event of a fire as it will alert occupants to evacuate the facility. The county and your insurance companies are not looking to make managing your fire alarm system expensive or a hassle, it's necessary to ensure that your fire alarm system is in proper working order to ensure the safety of the people within your facility.

An annual fire alarm inspection is an in-depth review of your system including a functional test of;

• The Fire Alarm Control Panel (FACP)
• Test the batteries in the FACP, and all backup power supplies
• Ensure the FACP is able to send signals to the monitoring company to test communications
• Test initiating devices (smoke detectors, pull stations, heat detectors, etc.) to alert of a fire
• Testing of all auxiliary functions (i.e., door release, elevator recall/shunt trip, etc.)
• Testing of all audio and visual notification devices (Horns / Speakers / Strobes)
• Testing of radios or telephone jacks if available
• Ensure the HVAC system to ensure it shuts off in the event of a fire

At BLTI we are able to offer both professional fire alarm system monitoring, inspection, and service for most all fire alarm systems. We offer flexibility with scheduling your annual fire alarm inspection to prevent impacting your facility's daily operations.

Start your facility off on the right foot this new year, and schedule your professional fire alarm inspection with BLTI today.