Resources
Maintenance Checklists
Structured inspection and servicing checklists for commercial and industrial fire and life-safety systems, organised by the cadence each standard expects.
Compliant maintenance is a documented, recurring process — not a once-a-year visit. The checklists below set out the routine inspection and servicing tasks for the four systems facilities managers ask about most: fire detection, gas suppression, emergency lighting and fire doors. They are written to mirror the cadence each governing standard expects, so a responsible person can plan in-house monthly checks and schedule competent-person servicing without gaps. Use them as a planning reference; the formal service records that satisfy an insurer or auditor must be produced by a competent, registered technician.
Who is responsible for maintenance?
The building owner or appointed responsible person carries the duty to keep life-safety systems in working order and to retain evidence of it. That duty splits into two streams: simple visual checks an on-site person can perform (panel status, signage, escape routes) and competent-person servicing that must be carried out by a registered technician (detector testing, suppression weighing, fire-door rating verification). Both streams need a date, a result and a signature on file.
How to use these checklists
- Run the monthly checks as a quick site walk and log the result, even when nothing is wrong — the record is the point.
- Book quarterly and annual servicing with a registered, competent technician well before the due date so a defect can be corrected without lapsing compliance.
- Record every defect with a severity and a target rectification date, then close it out with evidence.
- Keep the full history available for insurers, the responsible person and audit — a missing record is treated as a missing service.
What a defect record should contain
- System, zone or device affected and the date observed
- Severity classification (for example: critical / impairment / minor)
- Whether the system is left in a degraded or impaired state, and any interim watch arrangements
- Target rectification date and the responsible party
- Close-out evidence: re-test result and technician signature
Fire detection — SANS 10139
- ✓Monthly: confirm the panel shows normal (no fault, disablement or fire condition) and the standby supply is healthy.
- ✓Monthly: operate a different manual call point in rotation and confirm the alarm sounds and the panel registers the zone.
- ✓Monthly: check sounders and visual alarm devices are audible and visible across occupied areas.
- ✓Quarterly: review the event log, check battery condition and confirm any disablements have been restored.
- ✓Annually: have a competent technician test every detector and call point, verify cause-and-effect outputs and interlocks, and issue a service certificate.
- ✓Annually: review zone plans and the as-built documentation against the current layout and occupancy.
Gas suppression — SANS 14520
- ✓Monthly: confirm cylinder pressure gauges read within the acceptable band and the release panel shows normal.
- ✓Monthly: check the protected room for breaches — new penetrations, propped doors or altered ducting that affect integrity.
- ✓Quarterly: inspect hoses, actuators, manifolds and pipework for corrosion, damage or loose fixings.
- ✓Quarterly: confirm warning signage, manual release and abort stations are present, legible and unobstructed.
- ✓Annually: have a competent technician weigh or pressure-check the agent containers, test detection and release logic, and verify HVAC and damper interlocks.
- ✓Periodically: repeat room-integrity (fan) testing to confirm the enclosure still holds design concentration for the required hold time.
Emergency lighting — SANS 10114-2
- ✓Monthly: carry out a short functional test — simulate mains failure and confirm every luminaire and exit sign illuminates.
- ✓Monthly: walk the escape routes and confirm signage, fittings and final exits are clean, lit and unobstructed.
- ✓Quarterly: check for damaged diffusers, failed lamps and luminaires showing charge faults, and replace as needed.
- ✓Annually: perform the full rated-duration discharge test (typically the system's full autonomy period) and confirm each fitting lasts the required time.
- ✓Annually: record battery replacement dates and log the duration-test result against each circuit.
Fire doors — SANS 1253 / SANS 10400-T
- ✓Monthly: confirm doors are not wedged or propped open and that hold-open devices release on alarm.
- ✓Quarterly: check gaps around the leaf (head, jambs and threshold) are within tolerance and intumescent and smoke seals are intact and continuous.
- ✓Quarterly: test self-closing devices — the door should close fully and latch from any open position.
- ✓Quarterly: confirm hinges, latches, locks and exit hardware are secure, undamaged and correctly rated.
- ✓Annually: have a competent inspector verify each assembly against its certification, log defects and certify remedial work.
- ✓Always: confirm the certification label or evidence of rating is present and legible.
What happens next?
A clear, no-pressure process
- 1
Share your requirement
Tell us the site, systems and any compliance deadline. No obligation.
- 2
Site assessment
We survey the installation, zones and current compliance status against the relevant SANS standards.
- 3
Scope & fixed pricing
You receive a clear scope of work, standards mapping and transparent pricing.
- 4
Delivery & documentation
We install or service the system and hand over signed compliance records for your file.