This is the question we are asked most often, and the honest answer has four parts, because testing a fire alarm system is not a single event. Some of it you should be doing yourself every week. Some of it needs a competent contractor and instruments.
Weekly, by the building team
Operate one manual call point and confirm the panel registers it and the sounders operate. Use a different call point each week so that over a period every device is exercised. Record it in the logbook with the device reference, the date and who carried it out. This takes minutes and it catches the most common single fault: a device that has been isolated and never re-enabled.
Monthly, by the building team
Check the panel for faults and disablements. Confirm standby batteries are in service and the charger is showing healthy. If the building has a generator-backed supply or a fire pump, run it in line with its own schedule and log the result.
Quarterly and annually, by the contractor
This is where instruments and competence are needed:
- Detector sensitivity testing against manufacturer limits, not a can of aerosol and a judgement call
- A battery discharge test that proves the standby and alarm durations, not a voltmeter reading
- Full cause-and-effect verification, including interfaces to lifts, dampers, magnetic door holders and any suppression system
- Sounder level readings at the quietest points of the building, not at the sounder
Over a twelve-month cycle every detector should have been individually tested.
The failure mode nobody plans for
Disablements that are never reversed. A contractor isolates a zone to work on it, the work runs past the end of the shift, and the zone stays isolated. The panel shows it, but a disablement indication on a panel in a back corridor is only useful if somebody reads it. The monthly panel check exists for exactly this.
Keep the logbook honest
A logbook filled in retrospectively is worse than no logbook, because it creates false confidence. Record what was tested, what failed, and what was done about the failure. The failures are the part that has value.
Unsure what your current regime covers? Ask us for a review of your existing system and records.