What is an impairment coordinator?

A role the code assumes is filled

Section 901.7 of the International Fire Code, adopted by Houston with local amendments, expects the owner to have designated an impairment coordinator before a system goes down. In practice the role falls to the chief engineer, the property manager or the facilities director, and it often falls to them at six on a Friday when a contractor calls to say the riser is closed until Monday. Buildings that handle that call well are the ones where the coordinator’s name, number and duties were written down in advance.

What the coordinator does

Before a planned shutdown: confirms the scope and duration with the contractor, notifies the fire department and the fire code official, notifies the alarm monitoring company and the insurer where required, arranges the fire watch or the evacuation the official calls for, and checks that extinguishers and hose stations in the affected area are in place. During: keeps the tags on the equipment, keeps the watch informed as the work moves, and keeps the repair moving. After: sees the system tested, removes the tags, notifies everyone who was told it was down and files the fire watch log.

What the coordinator needs from a fire watch company

Officers on time, a route and an interval that match the authority’s requirements, a log the fire marshal can read, relief so the watch is continuous, and a hand-off at restoration. Price Protection’s dispatch asks the coordinator for the address, the system that is down, the areas affected, the interval and the alarm method, and the officers arrive with the log and the post orders drawn from that call.

Setting the role up now

Name the coordinator and a deputy, put the contacts in the building’s fire plan, and keep the sprinkler impairment checklist with it. The impairment coordinators article describes how to set the role up before you need it.