Do you actually need this?
Good practiceCan you do your own weekly fire alarm test?
Yes. You should. It takes five minutes, it is what the standard expects, and it is the record a fire officer asks for first. Here is exactly how, and why paying someone to do it is money for nothing.
What you were told: "We'll include the weekly testing in the contract, so you don't have to worry about it."
What the standard says: BS 5839-1 sets out a weekly test by the user and a six monthly inspection and service by a competent person. The weekly test was always yours. Putting it on a contract means paying a call out rate 52 times a year for someone to turn a key you own.
How to do it
- Tell people it is the weekly test so nobody evacuates.
- Operate one manual call point with the test key. Use a different one each week so every call point is tested over the year. Note which.
- Confirm the sounders operate throughout and the panel shows the right zone or device.
- If you have monitoring then tell the alarm receiving centre before and after. Or put the panel on test as they have instructed.
- Reset the call point and the panel.
- Write it in the log book. Date and call point and result and your name.
- Anything that did not work gets logged and the engineer gets called. That is what the service contract is for.
Five minutes. Same time each week is easiest.
Why it matters more than the contract
After a fire or on an inspection the log book is the first thing the fire officer opens. A six monthly engineer's stamp with 26 blank weeks between each one tells them the system was never tested by the people who rely on it. The weekly entries are your evidence that the building was managed and not just serviced.
What you shouldn’t be sold
- The weekly test on the invoice. It's yours.
- A "testing and maintenance" contract that blends the two so you can't see what the six-monthly visit alone would cost.
- A log book you have to buy from the provider. Any bound notebook with the right columns is a log book.
Quick answers
- How do I do a weekly fire alarm test?
- Warn staff. Operate one manual call point with the test key, a different one each week in rotation. Confirm the sounders operate and the panel shows the correct zone or device. Reset the call point and the panel. Record the date, the call point tested, the result and your name in the log book. If anything did not work, log it and call your engineer.
- Does the weekly test have to be done by a competent person?
- It has to be done by someone who knows how to do it, which is any trained member of staff. BS 5839-1 distinguishes the weekly user test from the six-monthly service by a competent engineer. Only the second needs a contractor.
General information, written for the person paying the bill. Opinion is labelled as opinion. Not legal advice. See our editorial standards.