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Straight answers to 56 common questions about UK fire alarm, intruder alarm, CCTV and access control standards and the law. Every answer links to the summary it comes from.
Answers written and checked by the SPS Technical team · Reviewed at the start of every month · Last checked 12 October 2026
BS 5839-1 recommends a service by a competent person at least every six months. Higher-risk sites, and systems with frequent false alarms, may need more frequent visits.
Yes. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires fire safety systems to be maintained in efficient working order. The Order doesn't set an interval itself. Following BS 5839-1, which recommends a service at least every six months, is the recognised way to meet that duty.
No, BS 5839-1 is a code of practice, not law. But the Fire Safety Order 2005 requires fire safety systems to be maintained, and following BS 5839-1 is the recognised way to show you have done so. Insurers and fire services expect it.
Every week. Set off one manual call point to check the alarm sounds, using a different call point each time, and record the test in the logbook.
The weekly test is a quick check you do yourself: one call point, to make sure the alarm sounds. A service is a full inspection by a competent engineer, covering the panel, batteries, detectors and records.
Yes. BS 5839-1 recommends keeping a logbook on site recording tests, faults, false alarms and service visits.
A competent person. Third-party certification, such as BAFE SP203-1, is the clearest way to show a company is competent.
BS 5839-1:2025. It replaced the 2017 edition.
Not automatically. A new edition applies to new work and changes. At each service, your engineer should flag anything that no longer meets the standard, so you can plan any work alongside your fire risk assessment.
Record it in the logbook and investigate the cause. BS 5839-1 expects the cause to be found and fixed, rather than the panel being reset and forgotten.
Design, installation and commissioning certificates. You should also get certificates whenever the system is changed.
Usually the employer for a workplace, or the owner or managing agent where the premises are not a workplace. A shared building can have more than one.
Make sure there is a suitable fire risk assessment, recorded in full and reviewed regularly and after changes. Keep fire alarms, emergency lighting and other fire safety equipment maintained, with records. In shared buildings, share fire safety information with the other Responsible Persons.
Yes. Since 1 October 2023, every business must record its fire risk assessment in full, whatever its size.
In England and Wales. It covers almost all non-domestic premises and the common parts of blocks of flats. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own fire safety laws.
BS 5839-1 covers non-domestic buildings and the communal areas of blocks of flats. BS 5839-6 covers the inside of homes, including individual flats and houses in multiple occupation.
Both. The communal areas follow BS 5839-1, and the inside of each flat follows BS 5839-6.
At least once a month. Landlords and managers of shared housing should keep a record of each test.
The grade describes how the system is built and powered, from a full panel-based system down to battery smoke alarms. The category describes how much of the home is protected, for example escape routes only, or every room where a fire could start. Your fire risk assessment, or the landlord's legal duties, decide which you need.
Usually around ten years, or as the maker recommends. Replace them at the end of their life.
Doors on escape routes must let people out. BS 7273-4 sets out how the fire alarm should release doors locked by access control or held open by magnetic devices, and how dependable that link needs to be.
They grade how critical a door is to safe escape. Category A is the most critical and needs the most reliable link to the fire alarm. Categories B and C allow simpler arrangements.
Ask your fire risk assessor which category each controlled door falls into.
Yes. Test the door release as part of the fire alarm service, not just the access control service.
Where required, keep a green break-glass or another manual release at controlled exit doors, so people can always get out.
It depends on your risk. Grade 1 is low risk. Grade 2 suits most homes and many small businesses. Grade 3 is typical for higher-value commercial premises, and Grade 4 is for very high-risk sites. Your insurer may specify a grade.
PD 6662:2017 is the scheme that applies the European intruder alarm standards (the BS EN 50131 series) in the UK. It sets how a system is graded from 1 to 4, and which other British Standards apply alongside it. Police and insurers expect a monitored intruder alarm to meet it.
BS EN 50131-1 sets the European system requirements, including the four security grades. PD 6662 is the UK scheme that says how to apply them, along with UK standards for installation, maintenance and alarm confirmation.
No. Every part of the system, including detectors, the panel and signalling equipment, should be at least the grade of the system as a whole.
Yes. Equipment must suit where it is fitted, indoors or outdoors, as set out in the environmental classes in BS EN 50131-1.
The grade of the system and the standards it meets.
At least once a year if it only sounds a bell on site. A monitored alarm that signals to an alarm receiving centre usually needs two visits a year, which is also a condition of police response. BS 9263 sets these intervals.
Each visit should check the detectors, batteries, signalling and the system log, and you should get a written record. Keeping the log up to date also helps trace and fix false alarms.
Remote support lets a certified engineer connect to the alarm panel to check its status or make changes without a site visit. BS 9263 sets the security and record-keeping rules for doing this. For a monitored alarm, approved remote support can replace one of the two yearly visits.
Use a certified installer and an approved alarm receiving centre. The system must be installed and maintained to PD 6662 and designed to give confirmed alarms, not single-detector activations. The police then issue it a unique reference number (URN).
A unique reference number the police issue for a compliant monitored system. Without one, the alarm receiving centre cannot request a police response.
Three false alarms in a rolling 12-month period. Response can be restored once the cause has been fixed and the system has gone a set period without further false alarms.
Not as a matter of course. Police respond to bells-only alarms only where there is other evidence that an offence is in progress.
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland. They are issued by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and cover monitored intruder alarms and detector-activated CCTV.
Yes. Keep your keyholder details up to date, because keyholders must attend when they are called.
Resolution alone doesn't decide it. What matters is the image detail on the person, measured in pixels per metre at the distance they will be. About 250 pixels per metre is needed to identify an unknown person, and around 125 to recognise someone you know.
BS EN IEC 62676-4 gives about 25 pixels per metre to detect a person, 62 to observe, 125 to recognise and 250 to identify.
BS EN IEC 62676-4:2025, the application guidelines for video surveillance. It replaces the 2015 edition, which stays available until it is withdrawn by 30 November 2028. New designs should follow the 2025 edition.
Agree what each camera is for: to detect, observe, recognise or identify. Ask for the pixels per metre at the target distance, not just the camera resolution, and check the night-time lighting supports that detail. Keep it all in an operational requirement document, so the finished system can be tested against it.
BS 8418:2021 is the British Standard code of practice for detector-activated, remotely monitored CCTV. Detectors trigger the cameras, and an operator at a monitoring centre views the images and acts. It covers design, installation, commissioning, maintenance and monitoring.
Yes, if the system is designed, installed and maintained to BS 8418 by a certified company, and monitored by an approved centre. It is then issued a police unique reference number (URN).
Ordinary CCTV records for later review. BS 8418 systems are triggered by detectors and watched live by an operator, who can challenge intruders over speakers and call the police or a keyholder.
The law doesn't set a fixed period. Keep footage only as long as you need it for its purpose. Many organisations use around 30 days, and keep specific clips longer when they relate to an incident.
Yes. It is a subject access request, and you must normally respond within one month. Protect the identity of anyone else in the footage, for example by blurring them.
Most organisations that process personal data, including CCTV, must pay the ICO data protection fee unless an exemption applies. The ICO website has a short self-assessment.
Yes. Put up clear signs saying CCTV is in use, who runs it and how to contact them.
You are the data controller, so you need a lawful reason for the cameras and secure storage of footage. Restrict who can view and export footage, and keep a record of disclosures. Carry out a data protection impact assessment for new or higher-risk systems.
BS EN 60839-11-1:2013 sets the system and component requirements: what controllers, readers and locks must do. Its companion, BS EN 60839-11-2:2015, gives the application guidelines.
They describe the level of security, from Grade 1 for low-risk internal doors to Grade 4 for high-security areas. Higher grades need stronger protection against tampering and more detailed logging. Choose a grade to match the risk at each door, rather than one grade for the whole building.
Yes. Records of who went where and when are personal data. How long you keep them, who can see them and how they are secured should follow UK GDPR.
Plan regular checks of readers, locks, power supplies and batteries. Doors on escape routes should also be tested with the fire alarm when it is serviced.
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