What goes on a monthly fire extinguisher inspection log?

Each unit's identity and location, and whether it is in its designated place, reachable and visible, showing a gauge in the operable range where it has one, with its pin and tamper seal intact, no damage, corrosion, leakage or a clogged nozzle, legible operating instructions, and a tag that can be initialed. Then the date, the person who walked it, and — the part people skip — what was wrong and what was done about it.

Is a monthly inspection the same as the annual service?

No, and this is the most expensive misunderstanding in the subject. The monthly visual walk is something in-house staff do. The annual maintenance examination, the six-year internal examination and hydrostatic testing are separate services carried out by a certified extinguisher company, and completing a monthly log does not perform, replace or certify any of them.

Fire extinguisher inspection log

Cited baseline

Inspect every extinguisher and keep the monthly record — eight checks a unit, your list saved for next month, printed for the file.

What this records, and what it does not

This is the visual walk: is the extinguisher there, can somebody reach it, is the gauge in the green, is the seal intact, is the label readable. It is the thing in-house staff do, and the thing an inspector asks to see a year of.

It is not the annual maintenance examination, the six-year internal examination, or a hydrostatic test. Those are separate services, most of them carried out by a certified extinguisher company, and nothing here performs or certifies any of them. The printed record says so in as many words, because a log that let somebody believe otherwise would be worse than no log at all.

Where the frequency comes from

Portable extinguisher visual — access, gauge, seal, condition, in place. Walk every extinguisher. Is it there, is it reachable, is the pin and seal intact, is the gauge needle in the green, is the hose clear and the body undented. Initial and date the tag. NFPA 10 §7.2 (monthly inspection), cited from the 2022 edition; the edition your state or AHJ adopted governs. Record: tag / log. Retention: 12 months.

This is the national consensus baseline, with the edition each figure was checked against. Whether it applies to your building — and at what frequency — depends on the code edition your jurisdiction has adopted, your occupancy, your equipment's listing, the manufacturer's instructions and your authority having jurisdiction. Confirm it with them. This tool records what you did; it makes no determination that any facility is compliant.

Built for a corridor, not a desk

Forty extinguishers times eight questions is three hundred and twenty taps, which is how paper logs end up filled in from memory on a Friday afternoon. Each unit has an All pass button, so a clean unit is one tap and the exceptions are the ones you actually touch. Your inventory is kept per building, so next month you open the tool and start walking rather than start typing.

The rest of the monthly round

The emergency lights are the other walk — emergency lighting test log — and the generator test log covers emergency power. The compliance calendar puts every test in the building on a date with the code behind each, and the PM checklist covers the rounds that are not life safety.

A record of an inspection you carried out. CompliMaint issues no certifications and makes no determination that any facility is compliant — your authority having jurisdiction does that. Everything runs on your device.

Questions people ask

What goes on a monthly fire extinguisher inspection log?: Each unit's identity and location, and whether it is in its designated place, reachable and visible, showing a gauge in the operable range where it has one, with its pin and tamper seal intact, no damage, corrosion, leakage or a clogged nozzle, legible operating instructions, and a tag that can be initialed. Then the date, the person who walked it, and — the part people skip — what was wrong and what was done about it.
How often does a fire extinguisher have to be inspected?: NFPA 10 describes a visual inspection at 30-day intervals, and this tool shows that baseline with the edition it was checked against. Whether it binds your building — and at what frequency — depends on the code edition your jurisdiction has adopted, your occupancy, your equipment and your authority having jurisdiction. Confirm it with them; the log works whatever answer you get.
Is a monthly inspection the same as the annual service?: No, and this is the most expensive misunderstanding in the subject. The monthly visual walk is something in-house staff do. The annual maintenance examination, the six-year internal examination and hydrostatic testing are separate services carried out by a certified extinguisher company, and completing a monthly log does not perform, replace or certify any of them.