Fire extinguisher inspection checklist. A printable checklist for the routine visual inspection of portable extinguishers — in place, unobstructed, undamaged, correctly charged and not overdue for service.
This is the paper version. FireOptix does the same job on a phone, with the record filed against the building or the asset automatically.
What is on the sheet
- A row per extinguisher: location, type, reference number and the service label date
- In its designated place, visible, unobstructed and correctly mounted or stood
- Seals and tamper indicators intact, pin present, and no sign of discharge
- Pressure indicator reading in the operating band where one is fitted, and the body free of damage, corrosion or dents
- Operating instructions legible and facing outwards, and the hose or horn clear and undamaged
- A defect and action column, and a separate line to record that the annual service by a competent person is not overdue
Why this record matters
The routine inspection is a look, not a service. It exists because the ways an extinguisher actually fails are visible — it has been moved, somebody has hung a coat on it, the pin has gone, it has been discharged and put back — and none of those are found by waiting for the engineer.
The two jobs are kept apart on this sheet on purpose. A premises where the only fire extinguisher record is the engineer's annual certificate has no evidence of anything in between, and that is the period an inspecting officer will ask about. A premises that has conflated the two has usually stopped doing one of them.
Identifying the unit matters as much as it does for doors and luminaires. Extinguishers are moved, borrowed and quietly relocated, and a record against a location with no reference number cannot tell you whether the one in the corridor today is the one that was inspected last month.
Intervals, pressure ranges, extinguisher ratings and what should be provided where are not on this sheet. Provision comes from the fire risk assessment and the standards the industry works to, servicing comes from BS 5306, and both depend on the premises. The sheet records what was found, when, and by whom.
Use it with
- Weekly fire alarm test recordA printable log for the routine fire alarm test — which call point was used, whether the sounders were heard everywhere, and what was wrong if anything was.
- Fire log bookA printable fire log book: a cover, an index of what belongs in it, and record pages for the tests, services, drills, training and findings that make up a premises' fire safety history.
- Fire safety audit checklistA printable audit checklist for checking that fire safety management is actually happening — the records, the testing, the training and the open actions — as distinct from assessing the risk itself.
- Fire risk assessment templateA printable fire risk assessment form, covering the premises, the people at risk, the hazards, the fire safety measures already in place and the significant findings that come out of it.
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© 2026 FireOptix. Free to print, copy and use in your business. Not for resale. Please keep this notice.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Written for England and Wales. General guidance, not legal advice. Checked October 2026.