About Testing: Regular testing of your fire, security, monitoring and other systems is critical to ensure your system remains in good working order. NFPA 72, 2010 Edition, The National Fire Alarm & Signaling Code requires commercial fire alarm equipment to be tested up to four times per year and residential fire alarm equipment once a year. PDS recommends testing according to the above standards or once per week for security systems in lieu of a security vulnerability assessment. We also recommend testing the equipment after any of the following occurrences; phone work, cable work, network work, electrical outages, lightning storms, vandalism, tampering, building construction, changes to the premise or any other circumstance that may affect proper equipment operation. Who can professionally test the equipment or system? Industry standards NFPA 72 & 731 states; 1) testing shall be performed by qualified personnel who is trained and certified by the equipment manufacturer 2) a person who is licensed and certified by the local, state, or federal government 3) a person certified by an industry-recognized program acceptable to the Authority Having Jurisdiction. Step Two - for Security systems – Arm the system and allow the exit time to expire. At that point you can open the doors and windows to trigger the alarm, walk in the coverage area of all motion sensors and trigger any other equipment you have such as panic buttons, glass break sensors, smoke detectors, per the manufacturer’s instructions if it is with-in your capability. When complete follow Steps Four & Five. Step Four - Verify the operation or non-operation of each device and verify with the monitoring center that all signals were received correctly. |