An Effective Fire Protection Impairment Program is Critical

Fire protection and other critical safety systems protect lives, property and assets. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the most common reason that sprinklers fail to operate is the system being shut off at some point before the fire. A fire protection impairment, if not managed properly, could render a system ineffective. An impairment program should be in place for all critical safety systems.

What is a Fire Protection Impairment?

As defined in NFPA Codes, an impairment is a condition where a fire protection system, or portion thereof, is out of order, compromising the ability of the fire protection system or unit to function in a fire event.

There are three types of impairments:

• Planned Impairment: Service disruption from work that has been planned, such as modifications to the water supply or sprinkler system piping.
• Emergency Impairment: Service disruption due to an unexpected occurrence, such as a ruptured pipe or an operated sprinkler, or an interruption of the water supply to the system. 
• Unidentified Impairment: A service disruption that is not tracked, such as a system shut down for repairs and inadvertently left isolated, a system shut down without proper notification or a system shut down maliciously.

For what systems should Fire Protection Impairments be issued?

Automatic suppression systems, including water-based systems, gaseous and special hazard systems, standpipe and host systems, fire pumps, fire water tanks, fire mains, fire alarm and detection systems, fire doors, dampers, penetrations, and other critical safety systems as listed in Section 4.4 of AEGIS's Fire Protection Online Impairment Reporting System Manual.

Temporarily shutting down a system as part of a routine inspection, testing or maintenance while under constant attendance by qualified personnel should not be considered an impairment.

What makes a good Fire Protection Impairment Program?

A good impairment program will be written, available to site personnel, and have the following sections:

• Reporting of the impairment to include Date Impaired and expected and actual Return to Service Dates
• Identifying the type of Impairment (Planned, Emergency, Unidentified)
• Identifying the fire system impaired and the area(s) protected by the impaired fire system
• Description of the reason for the impairment
• Listing the precautions taken during the impairment 
• Notifications made to the necessary people in the organization
• Status of significant impairments is noted or discussed during operations turnover meetings

When do you report an impairment to the Local Fire Department?

Report the impairment to the local fire department when a fire protection system is expected to be impaired for greater than 12 hours and may affect response efforts during an event (e.g., major suppression system out of service, loss of water supply, loss of major portions of the underground system, etc.). If uncertain, err on the side of conservatism.

When do you report an impairment to AEGIS?

AEGIS does not mandate the use of the AEGIS impairment reporting program if an acceptable program is already in place. However, AEGIS should be notified of impairments that are expected to impact major equipment or large areas of the facility for more than 12 hours (e.g., major suppression system out of service, loss of water supply, loss of major portions of the underground system, etc.). This will eliminate the need to report all the impairments caused by routine inspection, testing and maintenance activities, which are usually performed within a 12-hour timeframe. If uncertain, err on the side of conservatism.

How to report an impairment to AEGIS

Reach out to your Property Loss Control contact at AEGIS to coordinate the use of the AEGIS Online Fire Protection Impairment Reporting System, which can be reached by clicking on this link: https://www.aegislink.com/services/loss-control/fire-protection-impairment-reporting.html. Additionally, AEGIS can provide durable Impairment Tags that can be hung on the system in the field. These tags can be requested by emailing fireimpairments@aegislimited.com.

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