Once a month, walk up to every extinguisher and check the gauge, the pin, the hose and the tag. Do it in that order. Add a look at where it hangs and a quick heft, and you've covered every monthly line on our sheet. NFPA 10 calls for a visual inspection at least every 30 days and maintenance at least once a year.
Where it applies, OSHA's general industry rule for extinguishers provided for employees, 29 CFR 1910.157, says portable extinguishers "shall be visually inspected monthly" and also get an annual maintenance check. The monthly part is a look-and-touch job. The annual one is different work, and it should be done by a certified person.
A starting point, not a code or manufacturer requirement. Follow the equipment manufacturer, your local authority having jurisdiction (AHJ), and the current NFPA/OSHA text that applies to you. The sheet records what you looked at. It is not an inspection certificate.
Before you touch it
Stand back first. Is it where it's supposed to be? Can you see it from the aisle, and is the sign still up? Can you get to it without moving a pallet or the mop bucket somebody parked in front of it?
Those are the first two lines on the sheet: in its designated location, and visible with access unobstructed and signage in place. A full extinguisher behind a stack of boxes still fails. Mark it.
While you're standing there, read the nameplate. The operating instructions should be legible and facing out. If someone hung it backward, turn it.
Gauge
Look at the needle. The sheet's line is "pressure gauge in operable (green) range". In the green is a pass. Anywhere else is a fail, however new the unit looks. If a unit has no gauge, mark that line N/A and go by the manufacturer's instructions for checking it.
Then pick it up. The "Full" line allows either method: weighed or hefted. If you only hefted it, write that in the notes, so whoever reads the sheet later knows nobody put it on a scale.
Pin
Safety pin in. Tamper seal intact.
With the seal broken or gone, you can't tell from the hallway whether the unit has been used or messed with. That's a fail for this month and a job for whoever services your extinguishers. Don't pull the pin yourself to see if it moves.
Shell, hose and nozzle
Run your eyes down the cylinder for dents, corrosion and leaks, and check that nothing is stuck in the nozzle. Then the hose. Cracked or loose at the fitting is a fail on the "hose and nozzle in good condition" line. Wheeled units have their own line for the wheels, carriage, hose and nozzle; on a hand-held unit that line is N/A.
Tag
Initial and date the inspection tag. Then put the same on the sheet. The tag tells the next person it was looked at this month. The sheet tells your customer, or your boss, which ones you looked at and which ones failed.
What goes on the sheet
Print one sheet per extinguisher, or one per visit if you're walking a whole building. Then:
- Fill in the job details at the top before you start walking: the site and today's date.
- Pass, Fail or N/A on every line. No blanks. A blank looks like you skipped it, and maybe you did.
- Every fail gets a short note that says which unit and what you saw. "Kitchen, by the back door, gauge out of the green" beats "needs service".
- Sign it, and hand a copy to whoever is responsible for the extinguishers on that site.
When one fails
Don't fix it on paper. Mark the fail, tell the person responsible the same day, and leave the repair or recharge to whoever does your servicing. None of that belongs in a monthly walk.
If a unit has to come off the wall, 1910.157(e)(5) says the employer has to provide "alternate equivalent protection" while extinguishers are out for maintenance and recharging. What counts as equivalent on your site is a question for your safety lead or the AHJ, so ask before you carry it out to the truck.
The annual half of the template
The template has a second section for annual maintenance. It covers mechanical parts, the agent and the expelling means. It also asks for the hydrostatic test date (5 or 12 years by type) and the six-year maintenance date on stored-pressure dry chemical units. Then mounting, the right type and rating for the hazard, and the maintenance tag. That section is for the certified person doing the annual work. On a monthly walk, delete it in the editor before you print, or leave it blank and say so.
Keep the annual paperwork, too. OSHA's (e)(3) has the employer record the annual maintenance date and keep that record for one year after the last entry or the life of the shell, whichever is less. Your AHJ may want more.
Next month it's the same walk in the same order. The fire extinguisher inspection checklist is already loaded with these lines, so add your business name and print a stack. Keep the signed ones in one folder. Walking the same building for the panel and the risers? Use the fire alarm checklist and the fire sprinkler checklist for those.