The Importance of a Fire Alarm Logbook
There are quite a number of business organisations that are in the dark about the amendments to the Fire Safety Order in the United Kingdom. These regulations were amended in order to provide applicable guidelines to people in charge of these business premises to ensure the safety and security of their staff and other people occupying their premises. The fire alarm logbook has been made mandatory by these regulations as a means of recording important information about the drills and testing’s done on the fire alarm system. This article will highlight some of the most important facts about the fire logbook.
A professional fire alarm logbook is mandatory for all businesses and commercial establishments fitted with a fire alarm system and control panel. This logbook would assist the business owner of meeting the test record necessities of “BS5839 Standards” in the UK. The business owner is bound by this legal necessity under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order.
Who needs a logbook?
A fire alarm book is ideal for educational institutes, hotels, offices, shops, guesthouses, leisure industry premises, residences, factories and all other places where a fire alarm system is installed. In fact, a premise with a fire alarm system should conduct regular tests of the system, in order to guarantee the proper functioning of the system during an actual fire. Recording the results of such tests has been made mandatory with the new regulations. This is why a premise owner would require the fire alarm book. The relevant authorities will conduct regular check-ups and examine the logbooks for appropriate recordings. Not recording test results conducted on fire alarm systems has been made an offence by the law in UK. This is why every business premise owner should purchase a professional fire alarm log to maintain a proper record of the functioning of the fire alarm system. It would no doubt help to safeguard their business premises as well as the inhabitants from catastrophic situations as a result of fire in the long run.
The local fire brigade would now concentrate on becoming an enforcing organisation where they would rely upon individual businesses to carry out their own fire safety assessments within their organisations. If you are employing more than 5 people in your premises, it is mandatory by law that you carry out fire risk assessments as stipulated. Under such circumstances, it is mandatory to document the results of such fire risk assessments in a fire alarm log. If you employ less than 5 people, the recording part is not mandatory but still recommended. You will have to pay a heavy price for not recording the appropriate results in a logbook when a fire risk assessor visits your premises.
Keeping records for the Fire Risk Assessor.
The fire risk assessor will first go through all the fire safety procedures within the premises. The assessor will then ask to see the fire alarm log, which should indicate the servicing and testing records for all the fire safety equipment within the premises. The fire risk assessor can take legal action against a premise owner for not having proper records on the fire alarm book. This is why you need to seriously consider purchasing a professional fire alarm logbook if you own a premise with a fire alarm system.
A professional fire alarm book will cater to the latest fire alarm standards: BS5839. It will support fire alarm systems with control panels, non-addressable systems as well as addressable systems with up to 320 call points & detectors. You will be able to easily record all weekly tests done on the fire alarm system. The fire alarm service engineer can record details of regular services done on the fire alarm system. Remember that all these are mandatory by law in UK. The size of your fire alarm system will not have any impact on a professional fire alarm book. It could be used with any size of fire alarm system. These log books are quite inexpensive.
The aforementioned is some of the most important information about the new regulations in UK with regards to maintaining a fire alarm log.