How Fire Safety Inspections Can Impact Your Insurance Premiums

How Fire Safety Inspections Can Impact Your Insurance Premiums

No matter your type of business, fire protection systems like sprinklers, alarms, and extinguishers are your first line of defense against fire damage, so it’s critical to perform regular fire safety inspections to ensure that they are ready for action.

Local codes likely require you to install and maintain certain fire safety measures, but going above and beyond could positively impact your insurance premiums.

Here’s why having well-maintained fire safety systems is good for both the protection of your property and the money you spend on insurance.

Major Types of Fire Safety Inspections

According to a recent study on fire loss in the United States by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), only around a quarter of reported property fires occur in residential structures. Public and commercial buildings face unique risks that can only be mitigated with robust and functioning fire protection systems. Each of these systems requires regular inspections, testing, and maintenance to keep them in working order.

Fire sprinkler systems, for example, must be checked for pipe corrosion, breakage, and low water pressure. Since sprinklers are often static systems, professional testing is the only way to detect and resolve problems before they become necessary in the event of a fire.

Fire alarms, another critical fire safety measure, also require regular maintenance to their many important elements, including smoke and heat detectors, batteries and wiring, output relays and activations, and control valves and switches.

Your business may also employ additional fire suppression measures to protect against fire in specific areas or around vulnerable equipment. Water-based, inert gas, chemical clean agent, and carbon dioxide suppression systems all have unique mechanisms and operating methods that require specialized maintenance.

The Necessity of Meeting Local Fire Codes for Insurance

Local laws and fire codes establish a bare minimum for fire safety measures that all public and commercial spaces must meet. These rules and regulations may vary depending on your specific type of facility, but you can be sure that your business will need to have at least a few basic fire safety systems in place to avoid facing non-compliance fines and penalties.

Insuring your business against fires is essential for avoiding financial hardship in the event of a fire disaster and loss of property. If your business is not in compliance with local fire codes, you won’t be able to acquire and maintain insurance, which will leave you out paying out of pocket to address any property damages caused by fire.

Taking Additional Measures to Save on Premiums

Once your business is insured, it’s important to thoroughly understand your policy and what it requires of you to maintain coverage. Keeping your insurance may be as simple as complying with local fire codes, but some insurance companies and policies have higher standards regarding fire safety systems and maintenance.

You may also become eligible for premium reductions or coverage discounts by taking additional fire safety measures that go above and beyond what local codes require. These might include scheduling more frequent fire safety inspections, providing professional fire safety training to your employees, or installing more robust and high-tech fire prevention hardware, such as smart system monitoring.

Fire Safety System Maintenance With Kistler O’Brien Fire Protection

Keeping your business’s fire protection systems in good working order isn’t just essential for complying with fire codes or insurance policies — it can also save lives and protect your property from devastating damage.

Our team at Kistler O’Brien Fire Protection installs, inspects, maintains, and repairs a full range of commercial fire safety systems, from sprinklers and alarms to extinguishers, emergency exits and lights, and specialized fire suppression and explosion protection systems. For nearly a century, we have served many different kinds of businesses across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.