If you operate a business, large or small, that employs others or invites customers or other people into your premises, then you have a responsibility to make sure that they are always safe. As part of that obligation, you need to ensure that you have the right safety equipment on-site and that it is maintained in accordance with strict regulations as well. If you're relatively new to the business, you may not be familiar with the routine or the specific testing requirements as regulated by the government, so what do you need to bear in mind?
Full Protection
Fire is an ever-present danger and you must have suitable extinguishers around your property to cater for your specific threat. This will vary according to the type of business that you have, and you may need to have several different types of extinguishers for particular categories of fire. In order to determine whether you are adequately covered in this regard, you should consult with a fire safety expert who will help to ensure that you have the right protection at all times.
Monthly
Assuming that you have everything in place, get into the habit of looking at each extinguisher once per month to do a visual check. You should nominate somebody to do this for you and have a formal record so that you can prove that it has been done. However, you're basically looking to see if there is any obvious external damage, that the extinguisher is in its designated location and that it is fully charged.
Each extinguisher has a pressure gauge and you will simply need to refer to the needle to make sure that it is where it should be. You should also check the date of the last professional inspection and note everything on the log.
Annually
Once per year, you will need to conduct a maintenance inspection and will need to bring in a professional company to do this for you. These individuals have the training and the right tools and once they have finished their work, they will verify that they have done so on the inspection tag.
Periodically
From time to time, you will need to conduct a more thorough inspection of each extinguisher and this will vary depending on what type of extinguisher it is. Some of them will need to be fully discharged, inspected and recharged, while others will need to have a hydrostatic test to make sure that they can deal with the pressure and can perform under stress.
Your Plan
Reach out to a professional fire equipment inspection company to get started.
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