Fire alarm installation and testing for small commercial premises.

Who is responsible for a fire alarm in a business

Under the Fire Safety Order, which covers England and Wales, whoever controls non-domestic premises is the responsible person. Where it's needed to keep people safe, they have to make sure the premises have fire detectors and alarms, and article 17 says those have to be kept working and in good repair.

Which system a building needs comes out of its fire risk assessment. That assessment is the responsible person's job, and they must keep it under review and, since changes made by the Building Safety Act 2022, record it in writing. The order covers shops and workshops, guesthouses and self-catering lets that take paying guests, and the shared parts of a block of flats, though not the flats themselves. The local fire service enforces it and can inspect.

Designing and installing a system to BS 5839-1

BS 5839-1 covers fire detection and alarm systems in buildings other than homes. It splits systems into categories by what they protect, people or the property, and by how much of the building has detection. The right category comes from the risk assessment.

I've done plenty of commercial systems, and the design always comes first. I agree where the detectors and call points go, how the zones are split and what the control panel shows, and it all gets written down. Under the current edition a missing zone plan counts as an unacceptable variation, so the plan is drawn up and agreed before the cabling starts.

The cables are fire-resisting, so the sounders keep going while a fire takes hold. Manual call points sit by the exits and on the stair landings, where anyone leaving can raise the alarm on the way out. In guest bedrooms the current edition prefers smoke detection to heat, unless the risk assessment gives a reason otherwise. Sounders have to be heard all through the building, and loud enough in a bedroom to wake someone, so a guest room usually gets one of its own.

Conventional and addressable fire alarm panels

A conventional panel tells you which zone an alarm came from, so the zone plan by the panel is what sends people to the right part of the building. An addressable panel names the device itself, which saves searching every room on a floor for the detector that went off.

A small shop or a single-storey workshop often suits a conventional system. A guesthouse with a dozen bedrooms over several floors usually justifies addressable. Which one fits is settled at the design stage, along with the category. How long the installation takes depends how complex the system is.

Fire alarm installation certificates and the logbook

A new system comes with its design and installation certificates, then a commissioning certificate once it's been tested as a whole. The standard now calls the final stage handover. Insurers and fire safety officers may ask to see these, so they stay with the building.

The logbook lives with the control panel. Weekly tests, faults, false alarms, service visits and any departure from the standard all go in it, and under the current edition every variation is recorded, however small.

Fire alarm servicing and the yearly inspection

The yearly inspection and test is one visit each year for a small system, and it ends with an entry in the logbook and a certificate. The full routine servicing that BS 5839-1 sets out for a commercial system goes beyond it, and we quote that separately.

Between visits, BS 5839-1 asks for a weekly user test by someone on site. One manual call point is set off each time, a different one on each test, and the result goes in the logbook.

Where there's emergency lighting as well, the emergency lighting test can be done on the same trip.

A condition report covering the rest of the premises' wiring is part of my commercial electrical work, and can be booked alongside.

Fire alarms in guesthouses and holiday lets

Smaller places on the Yorkshire coast that take paying guests don't always need a commercial system. The Home Office's guidance for small paying guest premises says a hotel-style system is unlikely to be necessary there, and expects interlinked mains smoke and heat alarms instead.

Those are home-type alarms to BS 5839-6, the same as the mains smoke and heat alarms fitted in houses. Bigger guesthouses and HMOs over several storeys often need BS 5839-1, and the fire risk assessment decides which side a building falls on.

Cutting down false alarms

A system that goes off for no reason soon gets ignored. The current edition of BS 5839-1 asks for false alarms to be logged and looked into, and a panel with an automatic link to the fire service now carries a notice about them.

A common cause is a smoke detector near a kitchen or a shower room, where a heat detector or a multisensor would sit better, and the logbook usually shows where the trouble is.