Fire Safety Checks with Digital Checklists.

The aim of fire protection.

The aim of fire protection is to take appropriate precautions to prevent the spread of fire and smoke. This involves keeping fire loads low, identifying possible sources of ignition and training employees in correct behaviour.

Which areas need to be checked for fire protection?

Not only fire extinguishers play an important role in fire protection. Early fire detection, smoke ventilation and escape routes as well as associated safety lighting must also be regularly checked and maintained to ensure that they can be used at all times.

To ensure that in the event of an emergency, staff can be evacuated from the building quickly and easily and a fire can be extinguished as quickly as possible, the following critical facilities must be in good order at all times:

• Fire brigade access
• Bulkheads
• Fire & smoke doors
• Emergency exits & exits
• Escape routes, lighting & signage
• Fire extinguishers, risers & wall hydrants
• Extinguishing water systems, sprinkler systems, spark extinguishing systems and gas extinguishing systems
• Fire protection & alarm plan
• Storage of hazardous materials + labelling
• Fire alarm system, fire controls & fire smoke ventilation system
• Smoke and heat extraction systems
• Electrical installations

There are a multitude of other inspection points and obligations: From the spatial separation of the individual buildings and rooms to the fire closures such as smoke & fire doors, all critical points must be checked in the event of a fire. The effort required for the inspection usually increases with the size of the company.

Therefore, companies should have sufficient fire protection officers and fire protection assistants. As a rule of thumb, about 5% of the employees should be trained as fire safety assistants.

How can Testify help?

Testify makes it easier to check!

With Testify, a mobile app, the fire safety officer can easily and quickly create a digital checklist for all inspection elements. This checklist is available at any time on the smartphone or tablet and can be used during control rounds and inspections. The “paperwork” of checklists and inspection reports is eliminated. Upcoming inspections can be given a completion date in advance and assigned to an employee. This means that safety-relevant inspections are never forgotten again.

The complete fire protection plan can be created centrally with Testify and the implementation can be planned in advance.

Three examples of fire safety inspections using digital checklists from Testify will be discussed in more detail in this article:

1. Checking fire extinguishers with Testify

Testify, the app for mobile inspections of all kinds, also simplifies the inspection and documentation of fire extinguishers: with Testify, checklists for the inspection of the respective fire extinguishers can be carried out easily and paperlessly on mobile devices (smartphone or tablet).

For planning purposes, all fire extinguishers in the building can be individually recorded as test objects and the associated checklists added. The checklist does not have to be created several times, but only assigned. Different types of fire extinguishers are simply recorded and tested as a variant of the test object.

Tests that have been carried out are automatically stored in the system in an audit-proof manner and can be retrieved at any time. This means that audits or safety inspections can be carried out at any time to determine whether or not the fire extinguishers have been properly maintained. Since all tests are clearly assigned to a specific extinguisher, one can always be sure that all extinguishers have been tested.

2. Inspection of fire doors with Testify

Fire doors must also be checked regularly and properly. Not a single point should be neglected, because in an emergency this could be the deciding factor as to whether the door fulfils its task or not.

However, not all fire doors are the same and that is why Testify offers the possibility to create several variants of checklists and to manage them easily. This ensures that each door receives exactly the check it needs.

But what to do if a fire door is actually damaged? The defect is noted in the checklist and a photo is quickly added in the app. Then the defect to be repaired is assigned to the responsible employee directly in the app – done! The check is done and the repair has already been delegated!

Ideally, the door manufacturer also uses Testify and makes its Testify environment available to you for the necessary inspections – you can thus ensure that the manufacturer knows immediately and comprehensibly about the defect and can remedy it. With the digital defect documentation and your photos in Testify, the service visit can be planned precisely and the range of spare parts can be taken along.

The digital recording of data has another advantage over test reports on paper: the test data can be evaluated. In this way, manufacturers and customers can work out improvements for the doors together – all on the basis of the completed checklists, which are digitally saved. The reporting tools required for this are already included in Testify and are easy to use.

No matter how fire doors are tested – their functionality is crucial. In an emergency, this saves lives and protects your property. With Testify, the safety checks can be easily and seamlessly documented digitally. It can also improve cooperation between the fire safety officer and the door manufacturer.

3. Evacuation drills

Testify can also support the implementation of evacuation drills in case of fire. Evacuation should be practised once a year. The building is quickly evacuated and all employees gather at the assembly point.

The fire safety assistants, who are informed in advance, usually time such drills. This can then be entered into checklists. In this way, the results of the evacuation training are immediately displayed digitally.

Defects can also be recorded beforehand. For example, if markings are missing or a fire door is open or wedged, this can be recorded. Or if material is placed or stored in front of an escape route, this does not comply with the safety precautions and can be directly recorded as an “issue”. This also ensures that no information is lost and that responsibilities are clarified.

In short,

with digital checklists instead of paper checklists, not only is the fire load created by paper filing avoided, but regular inspection is also made easier. Thanks to Testify’s mobile software solution, inspection deadlines can be met and safety inspections centrally documented.

Sources: TÜV Austria / Fire Protection; Unternehmensservice Portal / Fire Protection; Safety Xperts / Evacuation Exercise