The self-paced online course covers how to safely repair a sprinkler system with minimal risk to the facility while the sprinkler system is off-line. With protection impaired, the risk of damage by fire significantly rises. Yet shut downs are often required for maintenance, renovation, new construction, or when equipment fails.

Upon completion you should be able to:

• Understand and describe the three main categories of impairments: planned, emergency, and hidden.
• How to safely plan an impairment by addressing three key issues:
  • Preparation;
  • Notification requirements and system shutdown;
  • System reactivation.
• Describe how to keep the sprinkler system downtime to a relative minimum.

Who Will Benefit

Anyone whose job involves designing, reviewing, evaluating or installing fire protection systems, including: designers, installers, engineers, electrical contractors, technicians, project managers, fire marshals, and architects.

Course Summary

There are three main categories of impairments:

1. Planned: when the sprinkler system must be shut-down temporarily
2. Emergency: when there is a unexpected failure partially or totally impairs the effectiveness of a sprinkler system
3. Hidden: An impairment that is not known to exist, and is therefore the most dangerous type

In conducting a planned impairment, the major goal is to keep the sprinkler system downtime to an relative minimum. You can do this by:

• Schedule work so you impair only one system at a time.
• Carefully plan the work so you complete as much of it as possible BEFORE you shut down the sprinkler system.
• Once you do shut off the sprinkler system, work without interruption until you can restore the system to full service.
• Never shut off a sprinkler system until someone shuts down all hazardous operations.

Once the work is complete, you must reopen the valve to reactivate the system. Reactivation steps include:

1. Fully re-open the valve.
2. Verify that the valve is open and reactivate the monitoring system.
3. Notify all persons originally notified of the shut down.
4. Remove the tag.