OSHA Fire extinguisher requirements for employers

OSHA Fire extinguisher requirements for employers

Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA has a series of requirements for fire extinguishers. These requirements guide fire extinguishers in any establishment, office or home. 

The fire extinguisher requirements (29 CFR 1910.157) apply to the placement, use, maintenance, and testing of portable fire extinguishers provided by employers for use at work. 

OSHA fire extinguisher requirements.

General requirements.

• The employer shall provide portable fire extinguishers and shall mount, locate and identify them so that they are readily accessible to employees without subjecting the employees to possible injury.
• Only approved portable fire extinguishers shall be in use.
• The employer shall not provide portable fire extinguishers using carbon tetrachloride or chlorobromomethane extinguishing agents in the workspace.
• The employer shall ensure that portable fire extinguishers are maintained in a fully charged, operable condition and kept in their designated places.
• The employer shall remove from service all soldered or riveted shell self-generating soda acid or self-generating foam or gas cartridge water type portable fire extinguishers which are operated by inverting the extinguisher to rupture the cartridge or to initiate an uncontrollable pressure-generating chemical reaction to expel the agent.

The OSHA requirements for the Selection and Distribution of the Fire extinguisher.

• Portable fire extinguishers shall be provided for employee use and selected and distributed based on the classes of anticipated workplace fires and the size and degree of hazard affecting their use.
• The employer shall distribute portable fire extinguishers for employees on Class A fires so that the travel distance for employees to any extinguisher is 75 feet (22.9 m) or less.
• The employer may use uniformly spaced standpipe systems or hose stations connected to a sprinkler system installed for emergency use by employees instead of Class A portable fire extinguishers, provided that the total coverage of the area is protected and that employees are trained at least annually in their use.
• The employer shall distribute portable fire extinguishers for employees on Class B fires so that the travel distance from the Class B hazard area to any extinguisher is 50 feet (15.2 m) or less.
• The employer shall distribute portable fire extinguishers used for Class C hazards based on the appropriate pattern for the existing Class A or B hazards.
• The employer shall distribute portable fire extinguishers or other containers of Class D extinguishing agents for use by employees so that the travel distance from the combustible metal working area to any extinguishing agent is 75 feet (22.9 m) or less. 
• Portable fire extinguishers for Class D hazards are required in those explosive metal working areas where combustible metal powders, flakes, shavings, or similarly sized products are generated at least once every two weeks.

OSHA Fire extinguisher requirement for Inspection, maintenance and testing of the extinguisher.

• The employer shall be responsible for inspecting, maintaining and testing all portable fire extinguishers in the workplace.
• Portable extinguishers or hoses used shall be visually inspected monthly.
• The employer shall ensure that portable fire extinguishers are subjected to an annual maintenance check. Stored pressure extinguishers do not require an internal examination. 
• The employer shall record the annual maintenance date and retain this record for one year after the last entry or the life of the shell, whichever is less. The record shall be available to the Assistant Secretary upon request.
• The employer shall ensure that stored pressure dry chemical extinguishers that require a 12-year hydrostatic test are emptied and subjected to applicable maintenance procedures every six years. Dry chemical extinguishers having non-refillable disposable containers are exempt from this requirement. When recharging or hydrostatic testing is performed, the 6-year requirement begins from that date.
• The employer shall ensure that alternate equivalent protection is provided when portable fire extinguishers are removed from service for maintenance and recharging.

OSHA requirements for Hydrostatic testing of the Fire extinguishers.

• The employer shall ensure that trained persons with suitable testing equipment and facilities perform hydrostatic testing.

The employer shall ensure that portable extinguishers are hydrostatically tested at intervals except under any of the following conditions:

• When the unit has been repaired by soldering, welding, brazing, or use of patching compounds;
• When the cylinder or shell threads are damaged,
• When there is corrosion that has caused pitting, including corrosion under removable name plate assemblies;
• When the extinguisher has been burned in a fire or
• When a calcium chloride extinguishing agent has been used in a stainless steel shell.
• In addition to an external visual examination, the employer shall ensure that an internal assessment of the cylinders and shells to be tested is made before the hydrostatic tests.
• The employer shall ensure that portable fire extinguishers are hydrostatically tested whenever they show new evidence of corrosion or mechanical injury.
• The employer shall ensure that hydrostatic tests are performed on extinguisher hose assemblies, which are equipped with a shut-off nozzle at the discharge end of the hose. The test interval shall be the same as specified for the extinguisher on which the hose is installed.
• The employer shall ensure that carbon dioxide hose assemblies with a shut-off nozzle are hydrostatically tested at 1,250 psi (8,620 kPa).
• The employer shall ensure that dry chemical and powder hose assemblies with a shut-off nozzle are hydrostatically tested at 300 psi (2,070 kPa).
• Hose assemblies passing a hydrostatic test do not require recording or stamping.
• The employer shall ensure that carbon dioxide extinguishers’ hose assemblies that require a hydrostatic test are tested within a protective cage device.
• The employer shall ensure that carbon dioxide extinguishers and nitrogen or carbon dioxide cylinders used with wheeled extinguishers are tested every five years at 5/3 of the service pressure as stamped into the cylinder. Nitrogen cylinders which comply with 49 CFR 173.34(e)(15) may be hydrostatically tested every ten years.
• The employer shall ensure that all stored pressure and Halon 1211 extinguishers are hydrostatically tested at the factory test pressure, not exceeding two times the service pressure.
• The employer shall ensure that acceptable self-generating soda acid and foam extinguishers are tested at 350 psi (2,410 kPa).
• Air or gas pressure may not be used for hydrostatic testing.
• Extinguisher shells, cylinders, or cartridges that fail a hydrostatic pressure test or are not fit for testing shall be removed from service and the workplace.
• The equipment for testing compressed gas-type cylinders shall be of the water jacket type. The equipment shall have an expansion indicator that operates accurately within one per cent of the liquid’s total expansion or .1cc (.1mL).

The equipment for testing non-compressed gas-type cylinders shall consist of the following:

• A hydrostatic test pump, hand or power-operated, capable of producing not less than 150 per cent of the test pressure, which shall include appropriate check valves and fittings;
• A flexible connection for attachment to fittings to test through the extinguisher nozzle, test bonnet, or hose outlet, as is applicable; and A protective cage or barrier for personal protection of the tester, designed to provide visual observation of the extinguisher under test.

However, the employer shall maintain and provide evidence to the Assistant Secretary upon request that the required hydrostatic testing of fire extinguishers has been performed at the time intervals. Such evidence shall be in the form of a certification record, which includes the test date, the signature of the person who committed the test and the serial number or other identifier of the tested fire extinguisher. Such records shall be kept until the extinguisher is hydrostatically retested at the time interval specified or until the extinguisher is taken out of service, whichever comes first.

OSHA requirements for fire extinguisher training and education

• Where the employer has provided portable fire extinguishers for employee use in the workplace, the employer shall also provide an educational program to familiarize employees with the general principles of fire extinguisher use and the hazards involved with incipient stage fire fighting.

• The employer shall provide the education upon initial employment and at least annually thereafter.
• The employer shall provide employees designated to use fire fighting equipment as part of an emergency action plan with training in using the appropriate equipment.
• The employer shall provide the training upon initial assignment to the designated employees and at least annually thereafter.

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