The LWF Blog

Fire Safety for Facilities Management Personnel – Inspection, Testing & Maintenance – Part 299

April 14, 2025 10:33 am

Lawrence Webster Forrest (LWF) is a specialist fire engineering and fire risk management consultancy whose aim is to give information on best practice in fire safety for facilities management personnel through this blog series. In part 298, LWF began to discuss the inspection, testing and maintenance of fire protection equipment and systems. In part 299, we continue discussing those essential routines to keep fire protection equipment and systems functioning as intended.

Routine and formal inspections of a building are important because they frequently lead to issues with the maintenance of passive fire protection measures being noticed and flagged. Any neglect of passive fire protection measures can lead to fires and the resulting smoke products spreading and growing beyond the area of fire origin and passing through into other compartments.

Common examples of ways passive fire protection can fail are new service penetrations through walls, ceilings etc. that have not been properly fire-stopped, self-closing devices on doors that require adjustment in order for them to close firmly shut in their frames, and gaps around fire-resisting doors through which smoke can spread.

Active fire protection measures should also be subject to visual inspections, but will also require test routines to be carried out in order to be sure the systems will operate when a fire starts. Fire alarm systems, emergency escape lighting, sprinkler water gongs etc. should all be tested frequently.

Active systems and equipment must also be subject to periodic inspection, testing, servicing and maintenance by persons with suitable technical knowledge. It is normally the case that contractors will be employed to undertake these tasks periodically, however, in large organisations, it may be the case that an in-house staff member is appropriately qualified. It is important that the staff member is just as qualified as a specialist contractor and that the servicing and maintenance they undertake complies with published codes of practice and recognised trade practices.

The frequency of inspections, tests and maintenance should take into account the following:

1. a) The nature of the building and the risk from fire;
2. b) The recommendations of equipment manufacturers and suppliers;
3. c) Relevant British Standards and other recognized codes of good practice;
4. d) Any requirements or recommendations of the fire and rescue authority or other enforcing authority;
5. e) Any requirements or recommendations of the company’s fire insurers.

A comprehensive list of daily, weekly, monthly and annual tests is available in our previous blog ‘Inspection, testing and maintenance – Part 3’.

This concludes LWF’s journey into fire safety for facilities management, we hope you found the series useful. You can follow our Fire Engineering series here. If you have any queries about your own facilities or wish to discuss this blog series, please contact LWF on freephone 0800 410 1130.

Lawrence Webster Forrest is a fire engineering consultancy based in Surrey with over 35 years’ experience, which provides a wide range of consultancy services to professionals involved in the design, development and construction and operation of buildings.

 

While care has been taken to ensure that information contained in LWF’s publications is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of this information.