Fire Alarm Tests

A fire testing website "Fixfire" BS 5839 weekly fire tests confirmts that "The British Standard BS 5839 for all fire alarm systems in commercial premises need to be tested weekly to ensure that there has not been any major failure and that the fire alarm system is in working order". This is important because it ensures that your fire alarm system is fully operational. Testing will allow you to identify any system faults and keep you compliant with Fire Alarm Regulations.

Your responsible person or person appointed by the responsible person can carry out your weekly fire alarm test, although if you look after a number of properties, you may prefer to ask your fire alarm company to do this for you.

In each weekly test, you should activate at least one fire alarm call-point and check that the alarm sounds, and the panel receives the signal.

Weekly tests

• Test a manual call point during working hours to check that the control panel and alarm sounders operate satisfactorily.
• Each week, a different manual call point should be tested.
• Voice alarm systems should be tested weekly in accordance with BS5839 Part 8.