Strategies That Help You Prepare For a Fire Safety Inspection
By Ziad Alezabi
March 13, 2024
Index:
Investing in an in-house centralized fire alarm monitoring system is crucial due to the many benefits it offers. You will be:
- Enhancing asset protection
- Saving a lot of money on liability insurance
- Minimizing false alarms
- Promptly dispatching of emergency personnel
- Monitoring multiple fire protection systems centrally.
Centralizing your facility's fire alarm monitoring can be an easy process with the right manufacturer.
However, if you get stuck with vendor lock-in or a bad manufacturer in general, you might run into trouble when it's time for fire safety inspections.
Why Your Fire Alarm Inspection Takes So Long
The amount of time a fire inspection takes can be different depending on the size of your facility's inspection area.
Smaller systems can be inspected in about an hour. In comparison, larger facilities can have inspections that last over several days.
Size isn't the only factor, you also have to consider:
- Complexity of your fire alarm system
- Lack of Accessibility
- Malfunctioning Equipment
- Compliance Issue
- Lack of Documentation
If you buy customized or semi-customized equipment from a fire alarm system manufacturer, you need to make sure that their equipment is documented very well, otherwise it will take longer to inspect.
Your Documentation Makes Inspection Go Smoothly
As a fire alarm distributor, you're most likely facing a challenge in managing extensive documentation. This can be a hassle when you're due for a fire alarm inspection.
A fire alarm inspection depends on what you have in your system. However, the common types of equipment that are inspected include:
- Control Panel: The control panel inspection ensures proper functionality and communication with all connected devices.
- Detectors: Smoke detectors, heat detectors, and other sensor devices are tested to ensure they can accurately detect fire.
- Notification Devices: Visual and auditory alarms like strobe lights and sirens are tested to confirm they activate correctly during an alarm event.
- Wiring and Connections: Inspecting wiring and connections identifies any issue that could affect the system's reliability.
- Backup Power Supply: The backup power source (most of the time batteries) is inspected to ensure it can provide power during a power failure.
- Communication Path: Ensuring that the system can successfully transmit alarm signals to the monitoring center or designated authorities.
- Interface with Other Systems: Testing integration with other building systems, such as security or HVAC, to ensure coordinated responses in case of a fire.
- Record-keeping and Documentation: In-depth reporting on the inspection results, any identified issues, and actions taken for maintenance or repair, as well as the original documentation for equipment to navigate them easier.
In order to avoid longer inspection times that ultimately bring your operation to a halt, you want to make sure your manufacturers supply you with very in-depth documentation on the equipment that they provide you.
Frequently Asked Questions According to Fire Safety Inspectors
How often should I do fire alarm maintenance?: Fire alarm maintenance should be completed once a year for your FACPs, sensors, communication equipment, and any remote annunciators.
You should also maintain smoke detection devices every two years by performing sensitivity and function tests.
How much can fire alarm monitoring manufacturers help in maintenance and repairs?: Digitize is a fire alarm monitoring system manufacturer that allows you to interface with older equipment, centralize your monitoring, and acquire in-depth documentation.
Digitize also has numerous experts on hand that can help you bring your system back online with 0 downtime.
Pass Fire Safety Inspections Quickly With Digitize
Digitize provides you with a wide variety of fire alarm monitoring equipment that promptly alerts you to any malfunctions in your fire alarm system. This allows you to take care of them so you can pass your annual fire inspection.
We have experts on hand that know how to keep you compliant with your local and NFPA compliance codes.
When you become a client of Digitize, you gain the ability to interface any device that you previously thought was legacy and obsolete. This helps you not burn a hole in your pocket trying to bring your system up to speed with modern day devices.
Take Advantage of The 25% Distributor Discount
Digitize makes sure that all of our clients are happy with how their budget is being spent.
With a 25% distributor discount, you don't think twice about upgrading your lineup with better equipment that gets you more sales leads.
We employ highly-trained fire alarm monitoring experts that oversee the production of every device.
This means you can call any time and we will be more than happy to help you with any issues in your fire safety monitoring system, even if it's not one of our devices.
We have our equipment installed in:
- Ivy League universities
- Global military bases
- Major US cities
- Major Transit departments
Our mission statement is to have our clients use Digitize as their own personal engineers. You tell us what your problem is, and we will curate a unique solution to you. We are a one-stop-shop solution for your monitoring needs.
We are a UL/ETL listed manufacturer that allows you to not worry about compliance issues within your system.
So what do you think?
Can we:
- Upgrade your lineup as a distributor
- Help you with a specific application as an end-user
- Answer questions about this article
- Help you with your existing problem (even if you don't have our equipment installed)
If so, I would love to take a call from you and I will do my best to help point you in the right direction.
We also have use cases and whitepapers (containing diagrams) that could help paint a full picture in your head.
Call at 973-663-1011 or Email info@digitize-inc.com
Ziad Alezabi
Ziad Alezabi is a seasoned marketing writer renowned for his expertise in crafting compelling content and strategic marketing communications. With a rich background in the industry, Ziad has contributed significantly to various projects, delivering engaging blog articles, impactful videos, and...Read More