Extinguishers are not interchangeable. Water on a live electrical fire, or on burning cooking oil, makes the situation considerably worse — and the person holding it is standing right in front of it. The type has to match what is actually in the room.
So we specify by risk. Water and foam for ordinary combustibles, CO2 where there is electrical equipment, powder for mixed and flammable-liquid risks, wet chemical for commercial kitchens where cooking oils are involved. Most premises need more than one type, and the labelling has to make the difference obvious to someone who has never thought about it before.
Quantity and spacing matter as much as type. An extinguisher is only useful if it is within reach of the fire and on the way out — not deeper into the building, and not so far away that fetching it costs the thirty seconds that mattered.
Extinguishers are mounted on brackets or stands at a height where anyone can lift them off, positioned on escape routes and near the risks they cover, with clear ID signage above so they can be found in poor visibility or by someone unfamiliar with the building.
New units are commissioned on installation rather than simply hung on a wall — checked, pressurised, tagged and recorded. From then on an annual service is the industry norm, with a more thorough extended service involving discharge and refill at longer intervals depending on the extinguisher type, and eventual replacement at end of life.
Every visit produces a record. That matters for insurers and for a fire risk assessment, which will ask whether provision is adequate and whether it is being maintained — questions much easier to answer with a service history than without one.
It depends entirely on what is in it. An office with electrical equipment, a workshop with flammable liquids and a restaurant kitchen all need different provision. We survey the premises and specify by room rather than applying a blanket number.
An annual service by a competent person is the normal expectation, with a more thorough extended service — involving discharge and refill — at longer intervals that vary by extinguisher type. Units also have a working life and need replacing at the end of it.
You can buy them anywhere, but buying is the easy part. What matters is that the type suits the risk, there are enough of them in the right places, they are commissioned properly and there is a service record. An uncommissioned extinguisher with no history is very hard to defend in an assessment.
Yes. Commissioning and every subsequent service produce documentation, which is what an insurer or a fire risk assessment will ask to see.
Yes. We take on existing extinguishers, check what is there against the risks in the building, and tell you where provision is short, wrongly specified or past its working life.
