Any home and business owner knows the importance of a fire extinguisher inspection service. Do you have a functioning fire extinguisher in your home or office right now? A structure fire could start at a residence or commercial building and take lives and properties along with it.
Across the US, every local Fire Department needs to respond to a fire approximately every 24 seconds, based on the National Fire Protection Association. While this feels like an overwhelming amount of flames going up across the nation, you could significantly reduce this number by having a fire extinguisher.
With overwhelming statistics like that, it's easy to understand why portable fire extinguishers and a fire extinguisher inspection service are needed in all businesses, regardless of the company's type or size. Regular fire extinguisher inspection service is an important component to have not just on the property of your business but throughout it. Keeping one extinguisher in a hidden corner will do more harm than good.
Your regular fire extinguisher must be readily available to everyone in an emergency. Ensure your entire staff knows where the fire extinguishers are located. It isn't enough for one or two people to know. What happens if they're out of the office? Regularly go over your fire safety plan with the entire staff, including pointing out the locations of all available fire extinguishers to stop panic in a time of vulnerability.
Fire extinguishers can do the job as it's filled with fire retardant foam, water, CO2, dry chemical powder, and more, in most cases. Research suggests that 60% of fires go unreported, indicating that a fire extinguisher handled the situation.
It's important to note that handheld protection such as this is meant to be the first line of defense, not always the only one. If the situation is developing and people authorities are on their way, the fire extinguisher would be able to assist in handling the accident and, hopefully, lessen the imminent threat. On-site and easily accessible, fire extinguisher inspection service could save lives and prevent irreversible damage while saving you money and time.
So your business has fire extinguishers present throughout the facility, your staff knows where they're all located, and you're having regular meetings to talk about fire safety. You are all set. Not quite. Understanding where the fire extinguishers are and knowing they'll work when you locate them are two different things.
Ensuring your fire extinguishers are in proper working condition is vital to an effective fire suppression plan. Knowing where your fire extinguisher is, is great, but if you grab a faulty device, you have a real issue. To guarantee the fire extinguishers will be there when you need them, you should periodically service their parts like you would a car. Your extensive fire suppression plan should be revisited and serviced as often as possible to ensure your fully operational staff understands the systems in place and within their service dates.
Seeing that each part of your fire extinguisher is intact and completely damage-free should be done routinely; someone familiar with fire safety protocol needs to check your equipment around once a month and document the date. Ideally, a professional in the field of fire safety equipment inspection, like us at Texas Fire & Safety Equipment, should look at each different component of your equipment annually and conduct a fire extinguisher inspection service efficiently.
We at Texas Fire & Safety Equipment go above and beyond to guarantee that each person we work with is constantly covered. From installation to maintenance, repairs, and even inspections, we cover each aspect of your fire extinguisher needs so that businesses aren't stressing over finding professionals following the most recent codes established by the National Fire Protection Association.
If the equipment has a defect, needs to be serviced, or anything in between, a Texas Fire & Safety Equipment professional will be there as soon as possible to correct the issue and to conduct a fire extinguisher inspection service.
Servicing your fire extinguishers promptly rather than replacing your equipment will save your company time and money. Suppose the repair is too huge to deal with on the premises, or you're in the process of updating your extensive fire safety plan. In that case, our team will leave a temporary replacement so that you're still protected while your device(s) is being worked on!
If you find any of the following during the fire extinguisher inspection service, you should talk with a professional who will have to service and replace or repair the faulty extinguisher:
All fire extinguishers should be labeled with details of their last inspection; if this isn't present, you should have the extinguisher checked over by a professional.
Most fire extinguisher inspection services like inspections, repairs, and recharges could be done on-site. But what exactly does that include? Each month, a qualified person has to be checking for clearly labeled, accessible, fully sealed, undented, and unexpired fire extinguishers across your business.
However, as you reach the one-year mark of your devices needing service, how do you know what to expect? The professional conducting your inspection must be NICET certified as a Texas Fire & Safety Equipment expert. The (NICET) or National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies, sets the national fire alarm codes and training to regulate the best knowledge on these fire safety technologies and topics.
Fire extinguishers are more complex than most people realize. That's why it is vital to find a professional to conduct regular fire extinguisher inspection services. These professionals look for several things when conducting yearly inspections. An annual fire extinguisher inspection service would examine whether there were any tampering or damage signs to the fire extinguisher, resulting in it not working.
Also, these inspections would look for the correct pressure, which is a vital component of a properly working fire extinguisher. In addition, professionals can check whether there's the sound volume of the extinguishing agent inside. Lastly, a regular fire extinguisher inspection service will also check into the free-flowing powder within the fire extinguisher.
A seasoned technician will verify everything the monthly check includes (scratch and dent-free, legible labels, etc.) and certify there are no defects. While getting a fire extinguisher inspection service, expect the specialist to double-check the canister pressure. After an extensive exam of each part of your fire suppression system, you, your team, and everyone here at Texas Fire & Safety Equipment will be confident in your safety!
A fire extinguisher inspection service should only be carried out by a certified fire equipment dealer or fire protection company.
Fire extinguishers must be inspected when initially installed and once a month after that. You should inspect extinguishers more frequently if they are installed in locations where they are more prone to rust, impact, or tampering.
Although the NFPA offers suggestions on prices for fire extinguisher inspections, your location and specific needs will determine the final price. Each fire extinguisher inspection service company will have its own rates, including a fee to inspect and update each unit and a service fee.