“How often do I need to test the fire alarm?” has three answers, because there are three different things people mean by “test”. Get them straight and the logbook mostly takes care of itself.
The three kinds of test
1. The weekly test. This is the user test. On a Grade A system you trigger the alarm from a manual call point, confirm the sounders go off and the panel shows the right zone, then reset it. On a Grade D system of interlinked alarms, you press the test button on one alarm and confirm the others sound. Either way, it takes a few minutes and gets written down.
Use a different call point each week so every one is exercised over the year. Testing the same one by the front door every Monday proves the other five work about as well as not testing them at all.
2. The periodic service. A competent fire alarm engineer inspects and services the whole system: every device, the panel, the batteries and standby supply, the wiring and the cause-and-effect. BS 5839-1 recommends this at intervals of no more than six months for a Grade A system. For Grade D interlinked alarms, BS 5839-6 expects at least an annual check and clean. This is the visit that produces a certificate.
3. The annual extras. Emergency lighting gets a full-duration test once a year. Alarm heads have a life, typically ten years for smoke detectors, and the periodic service should flag when they’re due for replacement rather than waiting for them to fail.
Who does what
The weekly test can be done by the landlord, the agent, or someone nominated at the property, but the record is the landlord’s responsibility. HMO licence conditions across West London councils commonly require weekly tests to be carried out and recorded, and an empty logbook is treated as if the tests never happened.
The periodic service has to be done by someone competent, which in practice means a fire alarm engineer. It’s not something a landlord signs off themselves.
What goes in the logbook
Every entry should show the date, who tested, which call point or alarm, the result, and any fault and what was done about it. Record false alarms in the same book, with the cause if you know it. Record the periodic service too, with the certificate filed alongside.
Keep the logbook at the property, or somewhere the licensing officer can be shown it without a week’s notice.
What is a “fire alarm test certificate”?
People asking for this usually mean one of two things:
- The inspection and servicing certificate from the engineer’s six-monthly or annual visit. When a council asks for “the fire alarm certificate”, this is normally what they want.
- The weekly test record, which is the logbook, not a certificate.
You need both. And hold onto the commissioning certificate from when the system was installed, which confirms it was designed and installed to BS 5839. Landlords lose that one constantly, and it’s a pain to replace.
What licensing officers actually ask for
The logbook with weekly entries, the most recent service certificate, and the commissioning certificate. Some will set the alarm off from a call point themselves and watch what happens. We’ve written up what happens at an HMO licensing inspection in Hounslow if you want the full walkthrough.
Common slip-ups
- Same call point every week. Rotate them.
- Testing without logging. Done is not the same as evidenced.
- Silencing instead of resetting, leaving the panel showing a fault for days.
- Testing without warning tenants. Tell them the day and time, or they learn to ignore the alarm.
- Forgetting the monthly emergency lighting test, which belongs in the same logbook. Here’s what that involves.
Want it off your plate?
Our weekly and monthly testing visits cover the weekly alarm test, the monthly emergency lighting test and the logbook, with faults reported the same day. We can schedule the six-monthly service into the same plan. We cover Hounslow, Feltham, Isleworth, Brentford, Chiswick, Richmond, Twickenham and the wider West London area.
Request a quote and we’ll come back with a fixed price per property.