Voice alarm servicing: what each visit should cover

A Voice Alarm System (VAS) is mostly cable and loudspeakers. The control equipment in the equipment room tells you whether the electronics are healthy, but it cannot tell you whether a loudspeaker over a staircase has been painted over, knocked off its bracket or drowned out by a new air handling unit. Servicing is how those problems get found. This guide sets out what BS 5839-8:2023 recommends at each interval and what a good service report should show.

BS 5839-8 is a code of practice, so it recommends rather than requires. In practice its maintenance clauses are how a responsible person shows that the system is kept in efficient working order, which is a legal duty under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Article 17).

The intervals at a glance

Interval	Who does it	What it is	Clause
Every 24 hours	Premises management	Check the voice alarm control panel for fault indications	42 b)
Weekly	Premises management	Operate a fire alarm call point and confirm the right message plays in the right place	39.1 a)
At least every three months, preferably monthly	Premises management	Run the weekly test at a time when most occupants hear it	39.1 b)
No more than six months apart	Competent specialist	Inspection and servicing visit	40.1
No more than 12 months apart	Competent specialist	Additional annual checks (can be spread over the year’s visits)	40.2
On a fault	Maintainer	Attend normally within 8 hours, on a 24-hour basis	41.2 a)

Six months is the maximum interval. A risk assessment may justify more frequent visits for a critical or heavily used system, but quarterly visits are a choice, not something the standard asks for.

What the building’s own staff should do

The weekly test is the premises’ job, not the maintainer’s. BS 5839-8 recommends that a nominated member of premises management:

• operates a manual call point on the fire alarm each week and confirms that the correct message plays in the correct zone, as set out in the cause-and-effect. Pressing the test button on the voice alarm panel is not enough on its own, because it does not prove the link from the fire alarm (BS 5839-8:2023, Clause 39.1 a));
• arranges for the test to fall during normal occupancy at least every three months, and preferably monthly, so that people actually hear the message (Clause 39.1 b));
• checks the emergency microphone where the system has one (Clause 39.1 c));
• records every test in the logbook (Clause 39.6) and checks the panel for faults at least once every 24 hours (Clause 42 b)).

Playing the test message from the panel is not the weekly test. If your logbook shows panel tests but no call-point tests, that is a gap your maintainer should be pointing out.

The six-monthly service

BS 5839-8 lists the activities for each service visit (Clause 40.1). In summary, the visit should:

• read the logbook and confirm that faults recorded since the last visit were dealt with, and review the panel’s own fault log for faults that appeared and cleared;
• look for changes to the building that affect the system: new partitions, a change of use that raises background noise, an extension that needs more loudspeakers, signage hung in front of a loudspeaker. Changes are reported to premises management, who arrange any corrective work;
• test the fire alarm link by operating at least one automatic fire alarm input and checking that the right message is audible and intelligible in the right areas;
• check every emergency microphone and the broadcast priority order;
• prove the power supplies: run the system at full alarm load on mains with the batteries disconnected, then on batteries with the mains disconnected; examine the batteries and their connections; check the battery installation date against the maker’s recommended life, and the temperature where the batteries sit;
• check controls, indicators and fault warnings, simulating faults where practicable;
• test ancillary functions, such as muting background music or other systems during an alarm;
• carry out the manufacturer’s own recommended checks.

The annual additions

At least once every 12 months, the specialist should also (Clause 40.2):

• operate every automatic and manual fire alarm input, not just one, and confirm the correct messages and any phasing, coordinating with the fire alarm maintainer;
• check that every loudspeaker works while those inputs are operated, and examine loudspeakers for damage where practicable;
• measure the impedance of every loudspeaker circuit and compare it with the previous year’s reading, ideally with the same meter, investigating any change. A circuit whose impedance has drifted usually has failed loudspeakers or damaged cable. This comparison was added in the 2023 edition (Clause 40.2 i));
• carry out a listening test in every loudspeaker zone to confirm the messages are intelligible. This was also added in 2023 (Clause 40.2 j)). It is a subjective test by a competent person, judged as intelligible or not intelligible, using the method the standard describes for commissioning (Clause 20.4);
• measure sound levels where there is reason to think they have changed, check accessible cable fixings, and check radio-linked parts where fitted.

The annual listening test is not the same as a Speech Transmission Index (STI) measurement. STI is an objective measurement with test equipment, normally done at commissioning or where intelligibility is disputed (Clause 20.2.1). It is a separate piece of work, not part of routine servicing.

What you should receive after each visit

• An inspection and servicing certificate (Clause 40.4).
• A written list of outstanding defects reported to premises management (Clause 40.3).
• A logbook entry recording the visit (Clause 43.1 g)).

A useful report also records the loudspeaker circuit readings, so that next year’s comparison has something to compare against, and says which zones were listened to.

What servicing does not include

The standard is explicit that routine servicing is not a fresh review of the system design. It confirms that the existing system works and can be maintained; a maintainer may point out design shortcomings they notice, but that does not mean they have looked for all of them (the commentary to Clause 40). If you need to know whether the system meets the current design recommendations, that is a separate survey.

Likewise, the maintainer is not normally the keeper of the as-fitted drawings, zone plans and commissioning records. Those are produced by the installer and commissioning organisation and kept by premises management (Clauses 35 and 42). A maintainer that modifies the system updates the records for its own changes (Clause 41.3 d)).

Changing maintainer

When a new maintenance organisation takes over, BS 5839-8 recommends a special inspection of the existing system and its records, producing a maintenance plan and a list of non-conformities under seven headings, including audibility, intelligibility, standby power and fault monitoring (Clause 41.1). Not every non-conformity has to be fixed; that is the building owner’s decision on the maintainer’s advice. If your current maintainer took over without this inspection, it is worth asking for one.

When work counts as a modification

Replacing a failed amplifier or battery set like for like is a repair. Adding or removing more than 5 % of the loudspeakers, adding or removing an emergency microphone or power amplifier, changing the number of emergency loudspeaker zones, or changing the agreed cause-and-effect generally calls for a modification certificate (Clause 41.3, Note 3). The organisation that carries out the modification tests what it affects, updates the drawings and records, and issues the certificate.

Five questions to ask about your service visits

1. Does the report show a reading for every loudspeaker circuit, compared with last year’s?
2. Does it say that every zone was listened to for intelligibility in the last 12 months?
3. Were the batteries tested on load, and is their installation date within the maker’s recommended life?
4. Were all fire alarm inputs operated within the last 12 months, not just one?
5. Is there a defects list, and is the logbook showing weekly call-point tests?

If the answer to any of these is no, the system may still be fine, but your records cannot show it.