Offices and retail units are the most straightforward properties we service, which is exactly why they drift out of compliance — there is rarely anyone whose job includes remembering the date.
Every partition wall changes the walking route to the nearest extinguisher, and NFPA 10's travel distance is measured along that route rather than in a straight line. An open floorplate that was well covered can fail after a fit-out without a single unit having moved.
The same goes the other way: knocking a floor open can leave you with units clustered in one corner and a long walk from the rest. It is worth a walk-through after any build-out rather than waiting for the annual.
A dry chemical extinguisher discharged in a server room will do more damage than most fires it would put out — the powder is corrosive and gets into everything. CO₂ leaves no residue, which is why it belongs anywhere with sensitive electronics. It is a small change that saves a very large bill.
In a multi-tenant building the classic gap is the shared space: service corridors, loading areas, stairwells and mechanical rooms, where each tenant assumes the landlord covers it and the landlord assumes the opposite.
A single survey recording who owns which unit settles it, and it is much better to have that in writing before an inspector asks than during the conversation.
OSHA 1910.157 puts the monthly visual inspection on the employer, and requires the records to be kept. An inspector asking for twelve months of monthly logs is far more common than an extinguisher failing, and a missing log is a finding in its own right. We set the log up at the annual service and show your staff what they are looking at.
Call 312-877-2355 during business hours, or send the details and we'll come back with a quote.
1840 N Clybourn Ave · Chicago, IL 60614
