NFPA Seminar: Fire Protection Systems Maintenance

Today I attended the first day in a two day seminar on Fire Protection Systems Maintenance. There were a number of highlights but one in particular has important ramifications for the Australian Standards..

One of my bug bears has been the lack of control and integrity testing of changes made to the software inside a modern (addressable) fire alarm panel.

The NFPA standards have addressed this in the National Fire Alarm Code 72 (NFPA-72:2002).

NFPA 72 covers the application, installation, location, performance, and maintenance of fire alarm systems and their components.

The best way for me to describe the importance of this is to quote directly from the code;

10.4.1.2 Reacceptance Testing.
...
10.4.1.2.1.4 When changes are made to site-specific software, the following shall apply:

1. All functions known to be affected by the change, or identified by a means that indicates changes, shall be 100 percent tested.
2. In addition, 10 percent of initiating devices that are not directly affected by the change, up to a maximum of 50 devices shall be tested and correct operation shall be verified.
3. A revised record of completion in accordance with 4.5.2.1 shall be prepared to reflect these changes.

And if this wasn't enough, they also address another deficiency with current Australian standards, that is what checks or tests are made when contractors upgrade the fire alarm system firmware.

10.4.1.2.2 Changes to all control units connected or controlled by the system executive software shall require a 10-percent functional test of the system, including a test of at least one device on each input and output circuit to verify critical system functions such as notification appliances, control functions, and off premises reporting.

I also believe there is one additional step that must be addressed, and that is the issue of bugs or glitches with system firmware and hardware issues. I am sure all manufactures have a list of known issues, some of which are minor and others that are critical to the performance and integrity of fire alarm systems.

It's about time we addressed these important issues through Australian Standards, the TC/2 committee must consider this in the next review of AS1851, AS1670 and AS4428.

If this is an area of concern to you write to the FPA or your TC/2 committee member and ask them to raise these issues on your behalf at the next TC/2 meeting.

Have your say and add your comments below...