Fire Alarm System Witnessing

[dood6966]

Does anyone know if there is a specific %age of a fire alarm and detection system that has to be witnessed by the electrical consultant to prove it has been tested & commissioned?

BS5839-1:2002 - 5, 39.2 c) states that every device, interface unit, etc has to be checked and tested, which is fair enough. But is there a regulation that says that the consultant has to check say, a minimum of 20% or 25%?

 

[scouse]

If you are maintaining a fire alarm system then to comply with BS 5839 you should have tested 100% of the system, this can be done either by doing 25% every 3 months 50% every 6 months or 100% annually.

BS 5839 only requires that you test 1 device per zone plus the panel checks on each visit as long as the full test is done annually.

Hope this helps

 

[bassman]

Does anyone know if there is a specific %age of a fire alarm and detection system that has to be witnessed by the electrical consultant to prove it has been tested & commissioned? BS5839-1:2002 - 5, 39.2 c) states that every device, interface unit, etc has to be checked and tested, which is fair enough. But is there a regulation that says that the consultant has to check say, a minimum of 20% or 25%?

No there is no regulation stating that the consultant has to witness the commissioning of the system.

The commissioning sheets signed by the person carrying out the testing is the legal form of proof of testing.

It may state in the original documents that the consultant should witness test a percentage but that is down to individual jobs and not part of BS5839,you must provide proof of testing usually marked on the drawings with Db readings and signed by the person carrying out the commissioning.

If the panel has a facility to connect a printer this should be used as proof that testing has been carried out and signed.