It is a shame that Rob has been banned, he has extensive knowledge and competence in electrical installations and fire alarm systems.
He does tend to shoot from the hip as it were, and speak his mind, he does have some very valid points in his posts, but, he could have worded the responses a little better.
Now, to pick up on this thread.
The stand alone detectors such as it sounds like are fitted in the OP's scenario, such as one would procure to fit in the home.
IMHO there is one brand that leads above all others, I won't mention them here for fear of breaching forum rules, but they are made in Ireland, and the company name is 4 letters A***.
Their alarms are built in accordance with BS 5446-2 (heat) & BS EN 14604 (Ionisation, Optical), their combined unit complies with both.
Now, I am a trained expert installer for this manufacturer, (hence why I won't name them), however, I am not an expert on BS 5839-1:2013 Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of systems in non-domestic premises.
The training is more aligned to BS 5839-6:2013, Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire detection and fire alarm systems in domestic premises.
The reason for this is that the standards that their units are built to are defined in the standards 5446 for dwellings, and 14606 for household or similar residential & leisure vehicles.
There is no mention in the standards for these stand-alone devices that they are suitable for commercial, offices, shops, or industrial etc.
Therefore, I suspect that in the event of a claim the OP’s insurance provider might be interested in why they were utilising devices that were not declared suitable by the manufacturer, they can’t because the standards they design and build to, do not cover anything other than “domestic/residential”.
As far as testing goes, unfortunately Rob is right, with regard to the switches, they are extremely delicate, as was said “poking them with a stick” is not a good plan.
As far as WAH goes then that’s up to you, but AFAIK, the first rule in the hierarchy of control is don’t do it.
With a commercial grade system to BS5839-1 then there would be no need for WAH, or individual testing of the units.
I mean these units by A*** can be interlinked wirelessly, and can include CO alarms and they can all sound together in the event of an alarm, and, there is a remote wireless test switch that will test the alarms, hush all but the one activated, and tell you whether the activation is, and indicate whether it is a smoke or a CO, they can have interface modules to other devices with volt-free contacts, and visual add-ons for the hard of hearing, but, they still don’t cut the mustard for commercial.
They even have a mobile app to read the status of each individual head, or a wireless dongle so you can connect via a laptop, but that still does not make them a commercial grade system.
The poles used by the pro’s for testing high level detectors, are not for pushing buttons, they are for introducing test “smoke” to the devices or other physical fire simulation.
FWIW, A*** require that their alarms are tested weekly, so in that respect the OP is doing the correct thing.
IMHO, however, & I hasten to add, I am not a fire safety expert, and even though the location may be low risk, these devices as installed are not suitable and sufficient for the risk as I see it, and never could be given the information provided by the manufacturer I deal with.
The issue with using a pole or cane is that the method of application is different using different muscles etc. so the forces that can be applied without realising could be well in excess of that which could be reasonably applied with a finger, and also, the “pole” could pierce or damage the push button exterior, that is without the potential excessive force damaging the switching mechanisms within the alarms.
So, as I see it, WAH, wrong, pole wrong, alarm units wrong for the environment.
No matter what the fire safety bods have said, to date, I fail to see how they can recommend a device which is specified by the OEM as only suitable for domestic dwelling type applications via the design & build standard are suitable for anything else.
If I were you, you need to get a written statement from both your fire safety “bods” & the device OEM, that these devices, your specific ones are suitable for the application in your installed environment, then run this past your insurer, because at the moment, I suspect that you are un-insured, possibly and in breach of several pieces of legislation.