Posts Tagged ‘fire safety inspections’
Posted: October 15th, 2021
Fire safety inspections are a crucial aspect of life and property protection for every Ontario business. While you can perform routine inspections yourself, many local enterprises have chosen All Protect Systems, Inc. to do it for them. They have the training and expertise to identify and correct fire safety hazards in residential, industrial, office, and retail buildings.
Depending on the requirements dictated by the Ontario Fire Code, inspections may be necessary annually, semi-annually, quarterly, or even weekly. While such frequent inspections may seem onerous, there are several benefits to routing fire safety inspections, such as:
1) Life Safety
Approximately 70 people die each year from fires in the Ontario area, excluding the First Nation’s properties, and injuries average more than 700. While occasional fires are bound to happen, business owners should do everything possible to ensure that their properties are as safe as possible. Regular inspections of your fire alarms, fire extinguishers and hoses, gas detection, and emergency and exit lighting can help save lives in your building.
2) Property Protection
Buildings are a major financial investment, and even though they’re insured, downtime can severely impact your business operations. Don’t allow a minor fire to grow into something serious. Proper fire safety equipment and procedures can turn a potential disaster into a temporary inconvenience.
3) Legal Compliance
The Ontario Fire Code mandates periodic fire safety inspections of nearly every commercial premise. Depending on the occupancy type, yours may require weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annual inspections. While life safety and property protection are paramount, business owners and operators must also comply with the Ontario Fire Marshal’s requirements. The Fire Marshall can impose heavy fines or even shut down businesses for egregious fire code violations, and periodic inspections can prevent this unfortunate situation.
4) Insurance
Business ownership often involves enormous liability, so insurance coverage becomes a large part of operating expenses. Many insurance policies require proof of periodic fire safety inspections to maintain coverage. If the business owner can’t provide the inspection reports when submitting a claim for personal injury and or property damage, the insurance company may reject the claim. Instead of saving time and money by not performing the inspections, the business operator may get stuck paying for damages out of pocket.
5) Criminal Liability
Suppose a serious injury or death occurs on a business property due to faulty fire safety precautions. In that case, the business owner may be criminally liable if he can’t produce his required inspection reports. Of course, nobody wants to be held responsible for criminally negligent homicide, and you can avoid this nightmare by staying in compliance with all of your routine fire safety inspections.
6) Intercept Future Problems
Periodic inspection and testing of your fire safety systems can help you stay on top of your equipment. While the system may have been state of the art when installed, it may no longer adequately serve its intended purpose. In addition, changes in building use or technological advancements can make fire safety systems obsolete. Trained professionals can spot antiquated equipment and recommend better solutions to your fire safety needs.
Not only are routine fire safety inspections required by law, but they can save lives, property, and money over the long run. While you’re legally allowed to perform many of the inspections yourself, most Ontario businesses delegate the responsibility to expert technicians like the ones at All Protect Systems, Inc.
All Protect has been serving its community with the best fire protection services since 1996. They can customize a fire inspection schedule for all of their business customers, regardless of size. Call them today to find out what they can do for you!
Photo by Kindel Media from Pexels
Posted: April 15th, 2020
According to the second law of thermodynamics, it’s natural for everything to break down and deteriorate all by itself. Fire extinguishers are no exception to this rule. It might still look the same as the day you bought it, looks can be deceiving, and degradation is happening continuously. While the lifespan of your fire extinguisher depends on various factors, you can generally expect them to last between 5-15 years.
5-15 years may seem like a wide discrepancy, but several factors contribute to the expected lifespan of your fire extinguisher. Regular inspections and maintenance by a qualified fire extinguisher technician can take the guesswork out of your vital life safety devices. Conveniently located in Waterloo, Ontario, All Protect Systems Inc serves much of the surrounding area. Call them today to find out how they can help keep your home or business safe.
Expiration Date
A time-honored tradition for any product with a life expectancy is always to check the expiration date. Look for a paper tag attached to the handle of the extinguisher. Even if the tag doesn’t explicitly state a date of expiration, it should have some date on it. If that day was more than ten years ago, it’s probably time to replace your unit. If no tag is apparent, there might be a date code imprinted on the equipment. If the numbers don’t make sense, don’t be afraid to look up the model number on the internet and see what information is available.
Pressure Gauge
While not all fire extinguishers have gauges, most do. Look for the indicator on top of the handle. It will show you the amount of pressure left in the tank. They usually have a red (empty) and green (full) section, so as long as the pointer is in the green area, your equipment should have enough material to function correctly.
Extinguisher Damage
Hopefully, you keep your fire extinguisher in a safe environment. Unfortunately, that’s not always possible. Fires can happen anywhere, and you need to keep extinguishers near the most likely places. Such locations are often subject to physical damage or environmental corrosion of your unit.
Harmful chemicals, extreme temperatures, or other factors can cause the rubber hose or nozzle on your equipment to deteriorate and crack over time. This process occurs slowly, and you probably won’t notice it. Periodic inspections by a trained professional are invaluable in these circumstances.
Your fire extinguisher can also get knocked off its bracket by an inadvertent collision with an enthusiastic employee. Even if you try to mount your extinguishers away from high traffic areas, such accidents are common. Damage to a fire extinguisher may not be evident to the untrained eye. Locking pins go missing. Handles become wobbly or loose, and debris can clog the nozzle. It’s a good idea to assign a specific employee the responsibility of monthly or quarterly inspections of all your life safety equipment.
Different Types of Fire Extinguishers
Some types of fire extinguishers last longer than others. You shouldn’t expect pressurized water, carbon dioxide, and wet chemical extinguishers to last longer than three years. Dry chemical extinguishers, on the other hand, should last at least 12 years. The type of extinguishing agent in your equipment should be visible on your tank.
Fire Extinguishers are the type of thing we tend to ignore until our lives depend on them. Unfortunately, we need to pay attention to them before they become critical for survival. Keep complete records of your maintenance and expiration dates of all your fire extinguishing equipment, and service them when necessary. If you would prefer to delegate this responsibility to a trained professional, call the experts at All Protect Systems Inc. They offer complete solutions to all your property and life safety protection systems.
Image: Flickr
Posted: October 2nd, 2019
Fires happen at an alarming rate, with the official figures only further
emphasizing just how important it actually is for businesses to have strict
fire prevention and safety measures in place. Such measures have been embraced
by Canada, the United States and many other countries all over the world,
because there is no safer way to deal with fire than to prevent one from
happening in the first place.
To this end, fire departments conduct annual inspections of buildings in
order to ensure they are in compliance with current legal standards in regards
to fire safety and to assess and mitigate any potential fire hazards in such
properties. The way in which such inspections are performed by fire inspector
can however be different depending on the area, which only makes it all the
more important for businesses to ensure that all areas of inspection are up to
code.
What will be checked?
Things that fire inspectors are likely to check during annual fire
safety inspections include the likes of the condition of equipment pertaining
to fire safety such as emergency lighting, fire alarms and sprinkler systems.
Other things that should be inspected during annual fire safety
inspections include fire hazards, potential access for fire fighters in the
event a fire does break out on the premises and any life safety issues.
Fire extinguishers
Many facilities run into trouble during annual fire inspections due to
the condition of their fire extinguishers, which may be inoperable, placed in
positions that are hard to see or find, or which may simply not be present in
enough quantity.
It is vital that all fire extinguishers on the premises be hung in the
correct position and that there are enough extinguishers to comply with the
fire safety code requirement. A lot of businesses actually fail to realise that
their fire extinguishers have to be inspected and tagged on an annual basis,
but if a well trained Fire Protection Company such as All Protect Systems
performs this service, then this aspect of the annual fire inspection should be
passed with no problems.
Emergency lighting
Another thing that should be inspected during an annual fire safety
inspection is the state of the emergency lighting on the premises. If a
building is plunged into darkness during any kind of emergency situation, and
the emergency lighting fails to switch on when it is supposed to do so, the
result can be panic that will make the situation even more perilous for
everyone inside.
Thus an inspection of the emergency lighting in a building should be
carried out on an annual basis, usually at the same time as the annual inspection
of the fire extinguishers.
Sprinkler systems
An annual fire safety inspection should also see an inspection carried
out on the sprinkler system of a building, in addition to an internal
inspection that should take place every five years. A Fire Protection Company
such as All Protect Systems will be able to advise your company’s maintenance
crew on the minimum requirements that your sprinkler system must be able to
meet in order to pass an annual fire safety inspection.
Easy access
An annual fire inspection will inevitably check to make sure that all
exit doors are easy to open from within the building, as seconds can mean live
lost or saved during an emergency situation such as a fire. It is imperative
than an exit door does not need a key or access code to be opened, and that it
is not blocked in any way.
The same issue with obstructions also applies to the likes of aisles,
pathways, stairways and walkways, all of which must be clear and the blocking
of any emergency egress in any way will result in automatic failure of an
annual fire inspection.
Talk to All Protect Systems today in order to ensure your building is in compliance of fire safety codes and will pass an annual fire safety inspection.
Image: Flickr