TWINFLEX®pro Control Panel User Guide
7
User Responsibilities
Introduction
The responsible person is required under BS5839 to undertake certain tasks with respect to the testing and
maintenance of the fire alarm system. The responsible person should also ensure that written procedures are
in place for the actions to be taken by the occupants in a fire condition, and that staff required to operate the
system have received adequate training. In a small building the fire procedures can be quite simple, but when
larger premises are involved the fire procedures can become more complex and may involve the appointment
of fire wardens, reporting procedures, various assembly points, etc.
The responsible person is also required to liaise with the building maintenance personnel to ensure that their
work does not impair or otherwise affect the operation of the fire alarm system, and to ensure that a clear
space is maintained in the vicinity of detectors, and call points remain unobstructed and conspicuous.
Routine Testing
The responsible person should also ensure that the following routine testing is carried out. If there is a link to a
remote monitoring centre it will be necessary to advise the centre prior to a test, or use the control panel
facilities to isolate the link. On larger systems it may be necessary to isolate building services interfaces to
avoid disruption to the occupants. In any case the panel should provide audible and visual indication that parts
of the system are disabled.
Daily
Check that the panel indicates normal operation and that any fault is recorded. Also check that the recorded
faults have been dealt with.
Weekly
At least one detector or call point should be operated to test the ability of the control equipment to receive a
signal and sound the alarm.
In practice it is far easier for the user to activate a manual call point, rather than a detector which requires
special equipment. A different device should be tested each time if possible, such that each zone on the
system is tested at least once in a 13 week period.
The results should be recorded in the log book.
Quarterly
‘The responsible person should ensure that every three months the following check is carried out by a
competent person’
In other words the system should be checked by a fire alarm service organisation. This may be the system
installer or an approved maintenance company, and is normally arranged via a maintenance agreement which
specifies the number of visits and the level of service. The agreement should also cover non-maintenance
visits, eg. call outs to attend faults, etc.
The standard specifies a number of maintenance tasks which include a visual inspection of the installation to
ensure that there are no alterations or obstructions which could affect the operation of the system, and
functional checks to confirm the operation of the system.
Any defects should be recorded in the log book and reported to the responsible person. A certificate of testing
should also be completed and given to the responsible person.
PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor
