Monthly inspections and annual servicing

They're easy to overlook: red cylinders mounted on walls, tucked beside doorways, stationed near kitchens and comms rooms. Fire extinguishers fade into the background of a busy office, which is precisely why regular checks matter. When you need one, there's no time to discover it's lost pressure, been blocked by furniture, or hasn't been serviced in years.

Extinguisher compliance isn't complicated, but it does require consistency.

Placement and quantity

The number of extinguishers in your office is determined by your fire risk assessment. As a general rule, you'll need one for roughly every 200 to 300 square feet, positioned so nobody has to travel far to reach one.

You'll typically find them near fire exits, providing a last line of defence on the way out, and in high-risk areas like comms rooms. Different extinguisher types (identifiable by colour coding) are specified for different risk profiles: CO2 units for electrical equipment, water or foam for general fires.

Placement matters as much as quantity. An extinguisher gradually obscured by stacked boxes or tucked behind a propped-open door isn't much use. Part of ongoing maintenance is simply ensuring they remain visible and accessible.

Monthly visual inspections

Monthly checks confirm each unit is in position and showing no obvious problems:

• Is the extinguisher in its designated position, unobstructed?
• Are there any dents, corrosion, or damage?
• Is the pressure gauge needle in the green zone?
• Is the safety tag intact? A missing tag suggests the unit may have been used or tampered with.

These checks don't require specialist equipment; they just require someone to remember to do them consistently, every month.

Rigorous annual testing of every unit

Once a year, each extinguisher needs a more thorough examination by a qualified engineer. Annual servicing goes beyond the visual, assessing internal mechanisms that determine whether the unit will actually function under pressure.

This includes checking the weight to ensure contents haven't depleted, inspecting internal components, and testing discharge mechanisms. Extinguishers typically last five to 10 years; annual servicing identifies units approaching the end of their life so they can be replaced before becoming unreliable.

How Kitt manages extinguisher compliance

Fire extinguishers are easy to ignore until the moment they're needed. We manage monthly visual checks and annual certified servicing as standard, ensuring your equipment is always operational and compliant.

Questions about fire safety compliance? Get in touch.