AHJ comment on duty to notify AHJ and others of deficient fire alarm / Why are you getting two emails daily? June 20, 2018

KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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AHJ comment on duty to notify AHJ and others of deficient fire alarm / Why are you getting two emails daily?   
June 20, 2018
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You may be getting two emails from us daily.  Why?  Here is the best answer:   I am sending out through two email services.  The new one and old one both have issues.  They both suck and I may have to keep both.  Sorry for inconvenience.  I may decide to drop one but for now they seem to reach different addresses, and they are the same list. The daily emails are the same, so feel free to delete one without opening, but don't unsubscribe because I may end up with only that service.
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AHJ comment on duty to notify AHJ and others of deficient fire alarm system from June 13, 2018
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Ken,
    As always reading your legal email newsletter is informative and interesting. You were 100% correct when you explained the risks and liability of not reporting a fire alarm system that was malfunctioning or not code complainant immediately to the Fire Marshal or the AHJ. [article on June 13 2018]
    Our department as well as many others are requiring copies of all inspections, tests and results be sent to a third party inspection auditing company ( http://www.thecomplianceengine.com ) .
    In addition the IFC Chapter 9, 901.9 dictates this requirement:  
    "For fire alarm systems required to be monitored by this code, notice shall be made to the fire code official whenever alarm monitoring services are terminated.  Notice shall be made in writing, to the fire code official by the monitoring service provider being terminated."
Yours truly,
Captain Frank J. Herrick
City Of Leawood Fire Department  
Leawood, KS. 66224-9560
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more comments
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Ken,
    In Texas, if an inspection finds the system is impaired from normal operation or is in non-compliance, among other things, then the system must be tagged with the appropriate State sticker and further must notify the AHJ and the owner. That is not optional. Also, when the fault has been corrected, the AHJ must be notified of that.
    Here is the link to the State Fire Marshal Rules: 
    http://www.tdi.texas.gov/fire/documents/fmstatalarm.pdf
Sec. 34.622 (d) and (e) :
(d) If, during any inspection or test, the system does not comply with applicable standards adopted at the time the system was installed, has a fault condition, or is impaired from normal operation, the owner or the owner's representative and the local AHJ must be notified of the condition and the licensee must attach, in addition to the inspection/test label, the appropriate yellow or red label, in accordance with the procedures in this section.
(e ) The local AHJ must be notified when the fault or impairment has been corrected.

    See also Sec. 34.623 and Sec. 34.624 for similar requirements and descriptions of the Yellow and Red Labels.
    Hope this is helpful.
Please sign me as 
ANON
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Ken
    Perfect answer on the "should you report non-functioning..." issue.  Unless you are under a mutual agreement with the customer, you have no authority to report non-functioning systems.  When submitting your bid, notify the prospective customer that the system is non-functional and what steps must be taken to rectify the situation. 
Anna 
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Ken,
    With regards to reporting a non-functioning fire alarm system to the AHJ, There are some jurisdictions that actually REQUIRE that anyone discovering a problem with a fire alarm system must report it to the AHJ.  Back in the 2000's, the state of Florida was one of these jurisdictions, they required that you send written notice to the AHJ that a fire alarm system was not functioning properly.  Now, some of the fire alarm contractors tried using that law as a means to bully/manipulate their customers into having the service work performed.  For the most part, the AHJs, particularly the ones in central Florida, were rather annoyed that they were getting so much paperwork so they did not pursue the requirements of the law.  In this case, if the employee were truly concerned about a non-functioning system, he could have handled it al little differently to at least avoid his actions from costing the company the project. 
    I have long since left Florida, so I do not know if reporting malfunctioning fire alarm systems are still a requirement or not.
Thank you,                  
Traci L. Imhoff, CT, CET
Fire Alarm Consultant
TrackerFire.com
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Response
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    The Fire All in One has been updated to include a provision that the alarm company is authorized at its discretion to notify the AHJ of non-working or deficient fire alarm.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
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