‘But This Was Fine Last Quarter:’ How Problems Arise Between Quarterly Tests

Over the last few years, we’ve seen a greater focus on enforcement when it comes to Part 7 of the Ontario Fire Code (OFC) and quarterly smoke control testing.

Most of these inspections are uneventful and don’t reveal any major issues, which is a good thing. But sometimes these inspections do reveal a problem, and that’s actually a good thing too. That’s because, in the absence of quarterly inspections, these problems may have lay dormant for a year or more. Or, even worse, they could have been discovered during an emergency situation.

While most condo managers, boards, and owners are glad these issues are found before they become major problems, they’re sometimes a bit confused. From their perspective, they probably just had an inspection 3 months ago. “This was working totally fine last quarter. What has changed?”

That’s a very common and very legitimate question, so we thought we would explore the many answers.

Changes to the Weather

Your building’s life safety system is going to have to endure all types of extreme weather, thanks to Canada’s four distinct seasons. This is particularly true in the GTA, with windy and bitterly cold winters coupled with hot and humid summers.?

These changes can have a direct impact on your life safety system. For example, the dampers on your fans are very susceptible to environmental changes, and that could mean either cold weather or debris in the air.

This is why issues with dampers are among the most common things we find.

Changes to the Surrounding Environment

The weather isn’t the only part of your environment that impacts your life safety system. What else is happening around your building?

For example, is a lot near your building under construction? If so, the amount of dust that construction can kick up may wreak havoc with your building’s sensors. We’ve actually encountered this problem a number of times. We’ve helped clients whose fresh air system was sucking in all the dust from the construction site next door, which meant they had to replace all of the smoke detectors within two years of the building being built.

This issue may show up during a quarterly inspection, or it may show up sooner in the form of false alarms.

Silo Services and Repairs

Your building’s life safety system is made up of several intricate systems such as your HVAC, elevators, or fans.

Each of these systems requires its own ongoing preventative maintenance to keep it running at 100%. The maintenance is performed by each system’s respective specialist, i.e. an elevator technician works on your elevator. However, the downside to this is the work is often done in a silo. Your elevator technician may perform a service that unknowingly alters the interconnections of the other parts of the life safety system.

This is probably the leading cause of issues we find during quarterly testing, and we feel it perfectly illustrates why quarterly testing is so important.??

Tenants and Traffic

Human beings are always the most unpredictable variables in any sort of equation.

Try as we might, it’s difficult to predict human behavior. You never really know how your tenants and visitors are going to interact with their suites, shared/common areas, parking garages, or doorways.?

That unpredictability can lead to unwelcomed surprises come inspection time.

Turnover and Staffing Issues

Nearly all sectors are currently being hurt by a global staffing shortage. We probably don’t have to tell you that the building and condo sector is no different. It’s never been more difficult to find, hire, train and retain high-quality employees.

Apartment buildings and condos across Canada are now being asked to do more with less staff. New employees are often thrown into the mix with less training and onboarding than they would have seen a few years ago.

This can have a serious impact on your life safety system and your overall safety culture. Your frontline staff members are the ones in charge of performing routine preventative maintenance on various parts of your life safety system, as well as documenting everything along the way.

If someone doesn’t receive the proper training, or they’re too busy to perform that maintenance, your system may experience problems.

New Buildings Have a Learning Curve

If you’re operating a newer building, your facilities and your operations may change drastically from one month to the next. This can definitely lead to some issues popping up from one quarter to the next.

We have explored this in another blog that talks about why new buildings often have so many fire system problems in the early months and years. One of the main reasons is that you never truly know how your building is going to react to the environment it lives in.?

For example, your first winter of operating may have been a relatively mild one. However, the following winter, cold and wet weather may lead to all kinds of problems.

Your building is also going to see dramatic changes if you’re going through staged occupancy. You may have 30 tenants in Q1 and then 130 in Q3. This increase in human traffic can lead to the many unexpected surprises we mentioned earlier.

Let us Help You With Your Quarterly Testing

We are your fire code and fire safety experts!?

FCS has the depth of knowledge and experience with integrated testing in HUNDREDS of buildings, which means we can help your quarterly Part 7 testing and all aspects of your fire safety culture and fire code compliance.

Want to know more? Feel free to contact us at 1(800) 281-8863 or by clicking here.