Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Table 11.3 Overview of a typical inspection regime
Equipment Period Action
Figure 11.7 Contractor testing electrical equipment
Regardless of the mechanisms of analysis, actioning
the fi ndings of an inspection must be seen as a key
management requirement in fi re safety management and
any report produced must not only detail what has to
Monitoring, auditing and reviewing fi re safety systems
Fire detection and fi re warning systems Weekly Check all systems for state of repair and operation.
including self-contained smoke alarms Repair or replace defective units.
and manually operated devices Test operation of systems, self-contained alarms and
manually operated devices.
Annually Full check and test of system by competent service engineer.
Clean self-contained smoke alarms and change batteries.
Emergency lighting equipment including Weekly Operate torches and replace batteries as required.
self-contained units and torches Repair or replace any defective unit.
Monthly Check all systems, units and torches for state of repair and
apparent working order.
Annually Full check and test of systems and units by competent service
engineer.
Replace batteries in torches.
Fire fi ghting equipment including hose reels Weekly Check all extinguishers including hose reels for correct installation
and apparent working order.
Annually Full check and test by competent service engineer.
be undertaken but also provide a guide to the speed of
response. On occasions, short-term fi xes may need to
be taken where the inspection has identifi ed a weakness
and signifi cant resources over a long term will need to
be considered.
The information from inspections as with all
information gathered from active monitoring
systems must be used to inform senior management
about the effectiveness of their systems
and where improvements can be made.
It is therefore vital that the inspection process
formalises how the information will be
collated and presented to management.
Ideally the close-out actions, when completed, should
also be recorded thus providing evidence that may be
used to demonstrate legal compliance to enforcement
authorities and be considered when conducting a fi re
safety review or audit.
11.4 Auditing fi re safety management
systems
A fi re safety audit may be described as a periodic (typically
annual), systematic and thorough assessment of
the implementation, suitability and effectiveness of the
fi re safety management system. It is a signifi cantly more
275