Fire Safety Management: Workflows in PlanRadar

Overview

This article walks through the fire safety process from Fire Safety Management: Overview in the order it happens: set up the element register in the office, document installations on site, run the recurring inspections, handle failures as defects, and produce the reports.

The example is the fire stopping contractor documenting about 400 penetrations in a six-storey office building, with the building owner taking over the same register for annual inspections. One form named Fire safety element, one inspection sub-ticket per visit, one plan per floor, a QR code label on every element. The steps assume you know how the individual features work. Each step links to the feature article.

Set Up the Register (Office, Webapp)

Create the Lists

• Element type: Penetration, Fire door, Fire damper, Compartment wall, Extinguisher, Emergency light, Exit sign.
• Fire rating: EI 30, EI 60, EI 90, EI 120.
• Service type: Cable, Cable tray, Steel pipe, Plastic pipe, Duct, Mixed. For penetrations.
• Product: the fire stopping and door products you install, by full product name.
• Compliance status: Compliant, Non-compliant, Remedial action open, Removed.

Create the Element Form

Create a form named Fire safety element. Keep attachments, comments and plan position enabled. Enable the numbering sequence with the prefix FS. Do not enable locking on this form: the element ticket lives for years and is updated at every inspection.

Subcontractor users can fill the two photo fields and set the status, but not the list fields. If the installer has to pick the product themselves, they need an in-house user, or the fire safety manager fills it from the photo. Use conditional visibility so Service type appears only for penetrations. Read more in Create & Edit Forms, Field Types, Define Conditions to Show/Hide Fields and Edit Field Permissions.

Create the Inspection Form

Create a second form named Fire safety inspection, used for the sub-tickets under each element. Enable locking, so a completed inspection cannot be changed.

Set the checklist field so that a negative response requires a note and a photo, and a mandatory ticket reference, so that a failed check cannot be saved without a linked defect. Read more in Field Types.

Roles and Users

• Fire safety manager: in-house user, full permissions.
• Inspector: in-house user with a role that has tickets Create, View all tickets, Edit all tickets that the user can view.
• Installer and maintenance contractor: subcontractor users in one group per company. They see only tickets assigned to them, can add photos and set Resolved.
• Authority, insurer or client's fire consultant: watcher, view only.

Set Up the Project and the Register

1. Upload one plan per floor into a layer per floor. The fire strategy drawings with the penetrations marked are the right plans here. Read more in Upload Plans to Layers.
2. Add both forms to the project. Read more in Manage Forms of a Project.
3. Create one element ticket per penetration and per door. For 400 elements, import them from the fire strategy schedule as a spreadsheet with Element ID, type, rating and service type, then place each on the plan. Read more in Import & Update Tickets.
4. Print a QR code label for each element ticket and hand the labels to the installer, sorted by floor. Read more in Use QR Codes to Link & Open Tickets.

Document the Installation (Site, Mobile App)

The installer works through the floor with the labels in one pocket and the phone in the other.

1. Stick the label next to the penetration and scan it. The element ticket opens.
2. Take the Photo before: the open penetration with the services visible.
3. Seal the penetration.
4. Take the Photo after: the finished seal with the label in the frame.
5. Set the status to Resolved. The fire safety manager is notified.

If the label does not match the drawing, for example the penetration is not where the drawing says, do not seal and do not guess. Write a comment on the ticket and set the status to Feedback. Read more in Comment a Ticket.

Risers and ceiling voids have no signal. The app syncs later. Read more in Working Offline.

Check and Close

The fire safety manager filters for Resolved elements per floor, checks both photos, fills in Product, Installed on and Certificate, sets Compliance status to Compliant and Next inspection due to one year ahead, and sets the status to Closed. An element with an unclear photo goes back to In Progress with a comment. Read more in Filter Tickets and Set Status & Progress of a Ticket.

Run the Inspections (Site, Mobile App)

Before each round, the fire safety manager creates the inspection sub-tickets: one Fire safety inspection ticket under each element due, with the inspector as assignee and the due date. For a large register, create them by import or with PlanRadar Connect on a schedule. Read more in Use Sub-Tickets and Import & Update Tickets.

The inspector then walks the building:

1. Scan the label. The element ticket opens, with its open inspection sub-ticket listed.
2. Open the inspection sub-ticket and fill in the checklist.
3. For every check answered No: add the note and the photo the checklist requires, and create the linked defect ticket from the checklist item. Assign the defect to the maintenance contractor group with a due date.
4. Set Result to Pass or Fail, set the status to Closed, sign the inspection. Read more in Sign a Ticket.

Back in the office, the fire safety manager updates the element ticket: Compliance status to Compliant or Remedial action open, Next inspection due to the next interval.

Fix and Verify (Contractor and Fire Safety Manager)

1. The maintenance contractor sees the defect ticket, fixes the element, uploads a photo of the repair and sets the status to Resolved.
2. The fire safety manager checks the repair, on site for anything structural, and sets the defect to Closed.
3. Where the check requires a re-inspection, create a new inspection sub-ticket under the element and run Run the Inspections again.
4. Set the element's Compliance status back to Compliant.

The defect process is the same as in Defect Management: Workflows in PlanRadar. The difference is that the defect is linked to the failed check, so the inspection record shows what failed and the defect shows how it was fixed.

Prove (Office, Webapp)

Overdue and Open

Two saved filters answer the fire safety manager's weekly questions: element tickets with Next inspection due before today, and defect tickets on fire safety elements that are not Closed. Both can be built by asking the AI Assistant in plain language. Read more in Filter Tickets and Create Ticket Filters with AI Assistant.

The Inspection Report

For the authority, the insurer or the client, filter the inspection tickets of the round and create a ticket report as PDF: one inspection per block with element ID, checklist responses, photos, result, inspector and signature, plus a plan per floor with the element positions. Read more in Create a Ticket Report (PDF).

Where the authority requires its own form, fill it as a project report from the authority's PDF and attach the inspection tickets. Read more in Project Reports and Attach Tickets to Project Reports.

The Handover Record

At completion, the contractor's register becomes the owner's. Export the element tickets as Excel for the O&M manual, with Element ID, type, rating, product, installer, date and certificate. Read more in Create Excel Templates for Exporting Tickets. Better, agree before completion that the register is built in the owner's account, so the owner's inspections continue on the same tickets without a break.

Across Buildings

In Statistics, chart compliance status per building and per element type, inspections completed against due, and defects open per contractor. Read more in Statistics.

Related Articles

• Create a Ticket
• Use Sub-Tickets
• Use QR Codes to Link & Open Tickets
• Use NFC Tags to Link & Open Tickets
• Set, Change or Delete the Plan Position of a Ticket
• Add Attachments to Tickets
• Set a Due Date or Extension Date for a Ticket
• Set Status & Progress of a Ticket
• Sign a Ticket
• Lock a Ticket
• Filter Tickets
• Import & Update Tickets
• Create a Ticket Report (PDF)
• Working Offline