Rank: Forum user 
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Hi, we have been discussing bringing in house the servicing of our fire extinghishers.We have someone in mind who has the NEBOSH fire qualification so has some knowledge in this field. There seems to be a few companies offering the servicing training ...4 days seems to be the norm. My question is has anyone else gone down this route ? and what did you find were the pros and cons...Thanks in advance
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Not done this myself -
But I would do a CBA and see if I can justify through cost?
SO
How much is a 4 day course? (I just found one for £700)
How much time would it take to do?
How often is refresher training required?
Some testing might not be achievable in house...
as a very rough guide 10% of extinguishers need replacing each year - as most have 10 year life cycle (So I am making a massive assumption)
against
how much an annual service contract costs.
Benefits of external might also be - they can oftren service lighting and alarms at the same time - as they are all ready on site this comes with a discount
Also - I found if they say equipment needs swapping it gets swapped, might be pressure on an internal to pass more???
Have fun
I'm off on a stupidly long drive, for a stupidly short meeting now.... the joys of Safety
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Be cautious here. The NEBOSH fire cert (which I teach) has nothing about the servicing of extinguishers in the syllabus. What type of extinguisher for the class of fire, yes, the need to maintain them, yes, how to maintain them - nope.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Pikeman wrote:Be cautious here. The NEBOSH fire cert (which I teach) has nothing about the servicing of extinguishers in the syllabus. What type of extinguisher for the class of fire, yes, the need to maintain them, yes, how to maintain them - nope. Hence the reason the OP would put the relevant person(s) on a fire extinguisher maintenance training course. I think the OP mentioned the fire cert to demonstrate that the operatives have an understanding of fire safety etc. As teh boy states, it comes down to economies. I'd firstly be checking what the industry standard qualification / experience for maintaining extinguishers is (would the 4 day course enough?). Whoever maintains them needs to be competent. Then it's just a calculation to see if it's worthwhile. It wouldn't work for us as we have many sites, but if you have a small number of large sites, where it's easier for the trained person to travel around and complete the maintenance, then this may make the numbers work.
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Rank: Forum user
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Good evening,
I am a Bafe qualified FETA engineer and have previously carried out in house service of our fire extinguisher.
It works well for us, as teh boy has stated the inital training to become a bafe qualified engineer is usually between £600-£800
The actuall annual service take approximately 5 mins a unit but if you have loads you can spread out there due date so there not all due in one hit.
Water, foam, drypower can all be done in house and are to be fully discharged and refilled after every 5 years. The cost of the refill foam barrels and dry powder is not that expensive compared to an external companies charge for doing what one of your staff can also achieve.
Only the C02 types have to be sent of after 10 years for the cylinder to be hydraulically tested.
Refresher training is recommended every three years, but this is only a recommendation and if you maintaining competence by doing it on a regular basis and keep up to date with changes you could choose to go over that.
Hope this helps
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Rank: Super forum user
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I would also suggest a discussion with your insurer as some are not too happy about this.
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Rank: Forum user
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Thanks guys , I have spoke to insurance company ..they are happy as long as we do certain things. Have done a CBA and it looks like we will push on with this....David I have PM you for further info.....thanks again to everyone
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Rank: Forum user
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confined wrote:Thanks guys , I have spoke to insurance company ..they are happy as long as we do certain things. Have done a CBA and it looks like we will push on with this....David I have PM you for further info.....thanks again to everyone Another thing to think of regarding insurance - with an external company they cover insurance for any malfunctions, issues, equipment failings etc etc - larger companies offering larger cover. We have recently negotiated with large well known company to do our maintenance, fire risk assessments, fire alarms , fire protection servicing and emergency lighting - negotiated an extremely good cost and they manage everything
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