Extinguisher Visual Inspection

[RePressure]

One of my customers has asked about monthly visual inspection of fire extinguishers, and if this is a legal requirement or just a recommendation. Their point being visually inspecting 400+ extinguishers is consuming time they don't have. Can anyone point me in the direction of any documents that I can present to this customer to clarify the requirement, I couldn't find anything concrete.

[kurnal]

Its a recommendation in the RRO guidance- eg page 60 in the factories guide. A quick visual- is the extinguisher there, is it on its bracket, unobstructed and is the guage reading ok and the tamper seal and pin intact. I believe it is also to be found in BS5306 part 3.

Like all these things its a recommendation of best practice. It only becomes a legal requirement when something goes wrong and someone gets hurt and the judge asks you why you chose to ignore best practice guidance.

[nearlythere]

One of my customers has asked about monthly visual inspection of fire extinguishers, and if this is a legal requirement or just a recommendation. Their point being visually inspecting 400+ extinguishers is consuming time they don't have. Can anyone point me in the direction of any documents that I can present to this customer to clarify the requirement, I couldn't find anything concrete.

The Order requires that facilities are subject to a suitable system of maintenance.
Once a month is a recommendation probably from the BS.
It would be up to the courts to decide if once a month is or was suitable. Until then I would devise a suitable maintenance schedule. One which suits the company.
But surely the 400 extinguishers are not in the one building.
What type of premises are we talking about here? HMOs?

[John Dragon]

5306 part 3  - page 3 :

4 Inspection by the user
It is recommended that regular visual inspections of all extinguishers be carried out by the user or user's
representative. The frequency of inspections by the user should be not less than monthIy and, when
circumstances require, inspections should be carried out more frequently.
NOTE 1 The Fire Safety: An Employers Guide [lo] information leaflet for employers, which is published for the Home Office as
guidance for operating within the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations [2] and 131, suggests that good practice is to determine
whether the extinguisher has been operated and to check for damage on a weekly basis.
Inspections should include checks that:
a) each extinguisher is located in the designated place;
b) each extinguisher is unobstructed and visible;
C) the operating instructions of each extinguisher are dean and legible and face outwards;
d) each extinguisher has not been operated and is not obviously damaged;
e) the reading of any pressure gauge or indicator fitted to an extinguisher is within operational and safety
limits;
f) the seals and tamper indicators of each extinguisher are not broken or missing.
The user should arrange for corrective action, where necessary.
NOTE 2 Employers in charge of a workplace have obligations under the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations [2] and 131.
ReguIation 6 requires that, where it is necessary ta provide extinguishing equipment to safeguard employees in the event of fire, this
equipment has to be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.

[AnthonyB]

Amongst the enforcement action I've seen mentioning extinguishers the following crop up-

1) No service in last 12 months
2) extinguisher empty
3) security seals/pin missing

Although the regular 'user check' is not law and doesn't get enforced on itself (unlike the annual service), not carrying them out means you are more likely to get stuck on for (2) or (3) as you could have an empty or tampered with extinguisher lying around for 11 months + before dealt with by the service engineer.

If you have a large workplace, getting one person to visualise 400+ extinguishers may not be reasonable (unless very high risk) but this role can usually be devolved to fire wardens for areas and department heads.

 If you have security staff who have to carry out daily patrols they can check the extinguishers (& MoE generally) as part of this.

The US is far more strict on monthly user checks with a requirement in most states to have monthly tags on the extinguishers that the user must complete in addition to servicing by a competent person - failure to do this gets the Fire Marshal* after you!

As Kurnal says the user check takes just a few seconds (unlike the service, although I know of some that do!)


* not the same as in the UK - what we call fire marshals they call floor wardens or similar - in the US a Fire Marshal is a county, city or state fire ordinance enforcement officer & unlike UK fire safety enforcers they do sometimes carry guns! (I wasn't expecting a room of armed men on a fire service tour, but that's the US for you!)