Annual Inspections: Ensuring Compliance

Are you getting a BC Fire Code and CAN/ULC-S536-2019 Rev.1 compliant annual inspection from your fire service provider? How do you tell?

Owners carry complete responsibility for BC Fire Code compliance within their buildings, despite annual inspections from their service provider and the fire department. Scary thought, considering that most owners don’t know what’s required to ensure compliance within their buildings.

So how to you cover your assets and ensure compliance? One good place to start is to review your annual inspection reports to make sure that your service provider is following the Standards and reporting their inspections correctly. Here are three easy steps when it comes to report compliance:

Step 1: Count the pages

I know that sounds remarkably simplistic, but it’s a good place to start. Why?

Starting with the 2019 version of the CAN/ULC-S536-Rev.1 – Standard for the Inspection and Testing of Fire Alarm Systems, which was adopted in the BC Fire Code in March 2024, the test record itself became enshrined within the standard requirements themselves. Prior to this, they had formed an appendix, which is, at best, a suggestion. Now the layout and language is not suggested but MANDATED. CAN/ULC-S536 has very specific reporting requirements,which include that the documents may not be reworded or revised in order or format.

A basic report for a simple building and system will be a minimum of 17 pages long. That number will increase if you have a larger building and more devices, which must all be tested and recorded in the report.

If you’re missing pages, you have an incomplete report.

Step 2: Count the sections

Here are the mandated sections that must be included in every report, even if the section doesn’t apply to your building.

If a section is missing, you have an incomplete report.

Step 3: Compare it to the original version for yourself.

All reports MUST follow the exact same format. You don’t have to know what all of it means to make a meaningful comparison. Remember, use of this version has been required for all service providers across British Columbia for coming up TWO YEARS now.

Some reports might be prettier than others – like the excellent sample version below, courtesy of the Fire Technicians Network – and some are utilitarian – like the one below that from ULC itself – but they must all contain the exact same language, in the same order, in the same paragraphs, with the same outline lettering. You can download either to use for comparison with your service provider’s annual report.

See differences between these documents and your reports?
Ask questions!