Fire safety log book:

The occupier's fire safety log book should be checked during an inspection to see that the system is being tested regularly and serviced and maintained as recommended by the appropriate standard.  If this is all in order then it is often not necessary to sound the alarm during the inspection.

There is also the issue of fire alarm interfaces and these should be checked, not only in isolation, but at the same time as the fire alarm so that the connection between the interfaced item (for example, a lift or an air conditioning unit) and the fire alarm can be seen to be functioning properly.  These should be checked on an initial inspection - for example, when the building has just been completed and is being handed over to the occupier.  For existing buildings, provided that the fire safety log book shows that the interfaces  have  been  adequately  checked  by  the  occupier  or  by  their  fire  alarm engineer then it may not be necessary to test all the interfaces.

Some interfaced items will be programmed to operate only on detection of fire in a certain area.  For example, automatic opening vents on the outside of a building that has pressurised staircases should only open on the floor where the fire is detected; the ones on other levels should remain closed.  Similarly, fire resisting curtains are often programmed to close only when one or two specific detectors detect fire.   In these more complex scenarios, it is important that the installation engineers check that the programming is correct when they initially commission the system or subsequently test it after making some alterations.  Enforcing officers should try to witness such checks to satisfy themselves that these details are correct.