EN 12845 Annex J — Impairment Procedures

Every hour a sprinkler system is out of service is an hour the facility has no fire protection. Annex J is the guide to planning that period, notifying the right parties, putting extra measures in place and restoring the system as quickly as possible. Without tags, a fire watch and insurer notification, an impaired sprinkler system is a blank cheque.

At a furniture factory, the main stop valve stayed closed over a whole weekend. The reason was mundane: a refurbishment crew had closed it because of a leak, assuming maintenance would reopen it on Monday. Maintenance never knew. That same Monday at 06:30 a fire broke out, the sprinklers opened, and there was no water in the pipe. The air bled off, the heads hissed for a while, and that was that. The fire spread to 800 m². Sixty per cent of the claim was rejected: no impairment notification, no tag, no fire watch. Annex J makes the value of a one-hour notification very clear — it is worth a weekend.

Types of impairment

• Planned: maintenance, testing, modification, water supply works
• Unplanned or emergency: a burst pipe, a frozen branch, a pump failure, a valve closed in error
• Partial: one zone or part of the building out of service, the rest active
• Total: the whole facility unprotected — the worst case

The eight-step impairment procedure

1. Plan: estimate the duration and choose the best window — night, weekend, production shutdown
2. Notify: inform the insurer, the alarm receiving centre, the facility manager and the fire service in writing
3. Tag: hang a yellow or red "OUT OF SERVICE" tag on the closed valve handle, with date, time and signature
4. Fire watch: trained personnel patrolling the affected area every 30 minutes
5. Hot work ban: welding, grinding and any flame-producing work prohibited, permit or not
6. Reduce fire load: move stock temporarily and break up pallet stacks where possible
7. Complete the work: keeping an hour-by-hour record of the out-of-service period
8. Restore: refill the system, test the alarms, verify the signals, remove the tags and issue the closure notification

The tagging system

Tag colour	Meaning	Location
Yellow	Partially out of service / maintenance	The affected valve handle
Red	Fully out of service / impairment	Main stop valve and control valve set
Green	Test or temporary work	Test valve, temporary bypass

The tag carries the start date and time, the expected restoration time, the responsible person's name and telephone number, the reason, and the insurer notification reference. Tags are plastic and hung with a non-removable tie, so that removing one has to be a deliberate act.

The fire watch in detail

• Trained personnel — extinguisher use, alarm procedure, evacuation
• Patrol of the whole affected area every 30 minutes
• Radio or mobile phone kept on continuously
• A portable extinguisher, at least 6 kg ABC
• An hour-by-hour record form, signed at each round
• Reporting of any abnormal sign — heat, smell, sound
• Fire service number and site plan carried
• Maximum eight-hour shifts, because fatigue means missed signs

The hot work ban

Hot work during an impairment is the highest risk there is. Under Annex J:

• Welding, grinding, cutting and soldering are prohibited as a general rule
• Where genuinely unavoidable, a hot work permit system applies: written authorisation, a 10 m clear zone, adjacent surfaces covered with water or blankets, and two hours of subsequent monitoring
• All welding planned within the impairment window should be deferred
• The fire watch continues throughout the hot work and for two hours afterwards

Field error — "only two hours", so nobody was told

At a chemical plant, the main stop valve was to be closed for two hours while a water main was rerouted. Maintenance did not call the insurer — "short job, no need". The works went wrong and two hours became fourteen. During that window a small LPG leak on the plant side ignited, and with no sprinklers the flame was out of control within five minutes. The insurer treated the policy as suspended. There is no such thing as an impairment too short to report; every minute must be recorded, and if the plan overruns the notification is updated immediately.

Differences between insurers and NFPA 25

NFPA 25's impairment chapter is the expanded version of Annex J. NFPA distinguishes three types: pre-planned, emergency and hidden — the last being an impairment discovered at inspection. FM Global operates its own red tag permit system, with the impairment reported through an online portal and a fire protection specialist notified around the clock. Domestic insurer practice in Turkey tends to follow the NFPA 25 model, while international insurers direct clients to the FM Global standard.

Managing an emergency impairment

Unplanned impairments always happen — pipes burst, valves fail, frozen branches crack. The immediate sequence:

1. Shut down the affected zone or the whole system quickly, to limit water damage
2. Flag the condition on the alarm panel and notify the alarm receiving centre
3. Start the fire watch immediately, even at night
4. Call the insurer within the hour, on the out-of-hours emergency line
5. Stop any hot work in progress
6. Plan the repair and estimate the duration
7. Hang the tag and open the record form
8. Follow the eight-step restoration once the repair is complete

Restoration check list

• Air fully vented and water present throughout (drain test)
• System pressure back to normal
• Flow alarm tested and signalling
• Supervised stop valve signal reading "open"
• Pump in Auto, with a run test completed
• Every tag removed
• Closure notification sent to the insurer
• Signal verified with the alarm receiving centre
• Fire watch formally stood down in writing
• Impairment record form closed and posted to the system status register

Records and documentation

One form per impairment: date, time and duration; cause; affected zone; measures taken; the fire watch record; insurer notification references; hot work permits where issued; repair invoices; restoration test results; and responsible signatures. This file is requested at insurance audits, at fire service inspections and in court. Five years of retention is recommended.

Turkish regulation and local practice

BYKHY has no dedicated impairment clause, but it is applied through the maintenance-and-testing and responsible-person provisions. Fire service inspections ask for the last year's impairment records, tag samples and fire watch forms, and gaps delay the compliance certificate. Even facilities without an insurance policy should keep the documentation for BYKHY purposes.

Quick check list

• A written impairment procedure, with trained personnel.
• A tag set (yellow, red, green) ready, with forms.
• Insurer emergency number posted at the panel.
• A fire watch rota prepared.
• Hot work permit system in force.
• The ten-point restoration list available.
• All impairment records for the last year archived.
• A monthly drill on a simulated impairment scenario.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the essential steps of an impairment?

Plan the window, notify the insurer and monitoring centre, tag the valve, start a fire watch, ban hot work, reduce fire load, record the duration hour by hour, and restore with full testing.

Is a short impairment exempt from notification?

No. There is no duration too short to report. Short jobs routinely overrun, and an unreported impairment during a fire is the fastest route to a rejected claim.

How often must a fire watch patrol?

Every 30 minutes across the whole affected area, with a signed record at each round, a portable extinguisher carried, and shifts no longer than eight hours.

What must be checked before declaring the system back in service?

Air vented and water present, pressure normal, flow alarm tested, supervised valve reading open, pump in Auto, tags removed, and closure notified to insurer and monitoring centre.

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