Life safety systems inspection records: compliance and savings

If one is not leveraging cloud-based technology to handle inspection records, one is not only missing a savings opportunity, but it is possible that person is not in compliance with state regulations.

All facilities are required to perform Inspection, Test and Maintenance (ITM) of their life safety fixed systems and devices to ensure they perform as designed and initially provided. The requirements are based on national, state and local requirements. Some of the most common systems that require inspection are as follows:

• Water based systems - NFPA 25, OSHA
• Foam systems - NFPA 11, OSHA  
• Alarm systems - NFPA 72, OSHA
• Suppression systems - NFPA 12, 2000, 72, and OSHA
• Fire extinguishers - NFPA 10, OSHA
• Fall protection - ANSI Z359, OSHA
• EWSS - ANSI Z358.1, OSHA   

The standards listed are only standards until adopted by either the state or local municipality as their adopted code to be followed. The few states that have not adopted codes by the state Fire Marshal's Office still fall under OSHA, which requires the systems to be installed and maintained per applicable codes by competent personnel. Each standard has requirements for the required ITM activities performed, the frequency of the activities, documentation and reporting requirements and record keeping requirements. 

Since NFPA 25 and other fire protection and life safety standards have been adopted by individual states and referenced by API and OSHA, owners are responsible for maintaining records for all their systems.  

The true cost of managing paper

Based on a study conducted by Building Reports, the cost associated with using and managing paper documentation can be sizeable. But with procedures and systems built into most businesses for decades, many of these costs are hidden in the cost of doing business. Below is the true cost of using paper: 

• On average, it costs about $4.82 to handle a single paper document and it is estimated that U.S. companies will waste about $8 billion every year in managing paper - per AIIM.org.
• 45 percent of files in filing cabinets are duplicate information, and 80 percent are never accessed again - per IDC.
• U.S. companies spend an estimated $20 on labor costs to file a document, $120 on finding a misfiled document, and $220 to reproduce a lost document - per Coopers & Lybrand.
• 21.3 percent of losses in employee productivity are due to paper-based documentation challenges that businesses go through - per AIIM.org.
• One out of every 20 documents is lost or misplaced, and companies spend approximately 25 hours recreating those lost documents - per Gartner Group.
• 70 percent of today's businesses would fail within three weeks if they suffered a catastrophic loss of paper-based records due to fire, flood or other natural disasters - per Coopers & Lybrand

Are you compliant with regulations?

The state of Texas and many other states are taking responsibility of the Authority Having Jurisdiction from industrial facilities and assigning it to local jurisdictions. A small portion of Texas jurisdictions currently require electronic inspection reports, and all require electronic reporting. 

Electronic compliance reporting

Vallen Safety Services partnered with Building Reports over a decade ago to provide the most comprehensive electronic compliance documentation for our customers. Building Reports lowers inspection costs and drastically reduces compliance risk by utilizing innovative technology and on-demand reporting tools. It provides detailed monitoring data for each inspected asset, including the name of the inspector who performed the testing and the time and date the inspection occurred. 

Vallen remains the industrial leader in inspection, testing and maintenance. With its partner, Building Reports, Vallen has a turnkey solution for customers' inspection records. 

For more information, visit vallen.com or call (713) 456-1000.