Fire & Life Safety: The Virtues of Visual Inspection

Jan. 18, 2017
NFPA 72 requires it, and getting your customer involved could pay dividends in the long run

In the fire alarm industry, if someone mentions the topic of T&I, thoughts naturally turn to fire alarm system testing; however, it might surprise you that the “I” part – Inspection – is equally important to maintain system integrity and reliability, and should never be an afterthought.

Testing relates to functional hands-on tests of systems. Inspections refer to visually looking things over – noting things that are potential problems waiting to happen. Regular operational tests and visual inspections are required by NFPA 72, and both are delineated extensively in Chapter 14 of the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code.

There is a long and historic past connected with what is known as the “Visual Inspection” – and I’m not talking just about fire alarm systems. Many industries, including the military, aviation and petroleum industries, have a job title or certification for their Visual Inspectors. These are industries that all require very high levels of system integrity.

Definition and Purpose

A Visual Inspection (VI) verifies that installed equipment is not degrading, or that structural or environmental changes at the location of installed equipment have not adversely affected the equipment. Here’s how NFPA 72 describes the duties of the VI: “Inspect for building modifications, occupancy changes, changes in environmental conditions, device location, physical obstructions, device orientation, physical damage, and degree of cleanliness.”

Notice the VI does not include the operation of equipment.  

So what is the stated purpose of these visual inspections? According to NFPA 72: “The purpose for periodic inspections is to assure that obvious damages or changes that might affect the system operability are visually identified.”

When you read the basic requirements noted, you may realize that the building owner or system user could be the best person to first notice changes to the structure or alterations to the equipment. You might think that these persons have to be “qualified and experienced” – but according to NFPA 72, they simply must be able to “demonstrate knowledge” of their duties.

It is now no longer expected that the person performing the VI have knowledge of the codes or the intent of the original design goals of the fire alarm system. The verification of a proper design was accomplished by a plan review and verified at the acceptance test. After a system is accepted by the AHJ(s), its design goals are no longer a responsibility of those testing and inspecting that system.

Get the Customer Involved

How could the building owner or their employee ‘demonstrate knowledge’ of their VI duties? Good fire alarm companies should consider providing each customer that wants to do their own VI with a comprehensive written visual inspection form and then allow that employee/inspector to shadow you on your first visual inspection.

Your techs should be using a VI form anyway, since your own T&I staff will be doing half of these required visual inspections themselves as part of their regularly scheduled test and inspection contractual duties. A comprehensive form showing the equipment details of that customer’s specific installation should more than be enough to ‘demonstrate knowledge’ of the VI duties for that employee’s system.

Keep in mind that the VI form used by your service staff should include a box to initial where the owner verifies that the types of building changes you would look for during a VI have not gone unaddressed. It is not a good idea to rely on a photographic memory or sleuthing by your own technicians to recall the particulars of every site you service. Let the owner assume some responsibility for their own property and system maintenance.

Work with your local attorney to create a VI document and a Testing form that you can provide to each commercial fire alarm account that clearly spells out the scope and responsibilities of both visual inspections and functional testing as described in NFPA 72 under Test Plan section 14.2.10.

Are you thinking that having the owner involved might mean you are losing money? Consider that the customer can better identify needed upgrades and alterations to the system based on their changing needs. Also, there may be a larger advantage for the alarm service company as the company’s visual inspector will “feed forward” the information they observe.

You can use the owner’s own report to offer add-ons, upgrades, and additional service without having to convince them of problems only your techs have found. Of course, having another set of eyes on a VI can increase the effectiveness of the VI considerably. We are required to perform a 100-percent visual Inspection, per code. Airlines sometimes perform a 300-percent VI. How do they do that? By having three people independently perform the same VI.

Greg Kessinger has been SD&I’s fire alarm and codes expert and a regular contributor for more than 15 years. Please email him your fire & life safety questions at [email protected].