Written by: IT Admin | On: May 17, 2020
Whether you’re a business owner or a property manager, your fire protection system should be inspected per state statutes to ensure that each facet of your system is working. In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of fire system inspection frequency.
However, before we jump into an inspection overview, let’s distinguish the differences between inspection and testing.
Though inspection and testing sound the same—I mean, don’t you inspect when you also test and don’t you need to test when you also inspect?—The truth is, though, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, despite them being different altogether.
Inspections involve professionals visually inspecting equipment such as sprinklers and fire alarms for problems like leaks or damages. Whereas testing involves examining whether equipment functions properly. Inspections and tests are often performed according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards. A professional will know the right inspection and testing frequencies to ensure your equipment is running properly.
In the United States—every minute there are about 4 new fires that require a fire department, an outside property fire occurs roughly every 52 seconds. That’s why it’s so important to have an effective fire protection system, you can greatly reduce the chance of a small fire to turn into a devastating fire.
As your first line of defense against a fire, fire protection systems need to work in adherence with state codes and standards, which is why they need to be inspected routinely. Such systems include:
A fire alarm will alert you to a potential fire and save your life. According to the NFPA, there are around 1,450 deaths each year in houses due to missing or damaged alarms. As a primary part of a fire protection system, all aspects of the fire alarm must be inspected and tested.
A fire alarm system should be inspected semi-annually, as well as annually. All devices both initiating and notification should be tested. Smoke detectors should have their sensitivity checked bi-annually as required by code.
The NFPA and Florida State Statutes require that commercial and industrial facilities have licensed fire protection contractors inspect all sprinkler systems at least 4 times a year. Here are some of the more important milestones to pay attention to with your sprinkler system:
The seasoned professional handling the inspection will look at all elements to ensure that they are functioning correctly.
A fire hydrant is a primary line of defense against a household or business fire. Like all aspects of fire protection systems, these need to be inspected.
Annually: Inspection and testing by a licensed fire protection system contractor.
Based on the National Fire Protection Association standards for inspections, here are some more fire protection systems that should be inspected routinely:
Now that you know fire system inspection frequency and understand the importance of an inspection for fire protection systems, it’s time you reached out to fire protection system specialists here at RANDALL. As professionals, we can let you know in more detail (instead of just this overview) the importance of inspections, and get to work ensuring your fire systems are up-to-date.
RANDALL Fire Protection delivers comprehensive fire suppression inspections and testing. We are dedicated to meeting the highest standards in fire protection system inspections and maintenance. You can depend on us to consistently deliver quality service.
Contact our RANDALL Fire Protection team to learn more about our fire protection system at (407) 464-7776.