Regulations governing the test period: Health & Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulation 2017, schedule 22, item4.
Other documents: Guide to Gas Cylinders, sections 8.1, 8.6 & 8.7
Definition: Portable fire extinguisher means a first-aid fire-fighting appliance that can be carried by hand or wheeled on a mobile trolley. It may be stored pressure or gas cartridge operated.
According to the governing legislation the cylinder test period for fire extinguishers is simply taken as within the test year so the months are not important. I have previously discussed this point at a CTLA conference & in my role as the Chair of the FPA at one of our meetings with Kim Comben who at that time held the title of Chief Inspector of Dangerous Goods. His view was that as long as the fire extinguishers (pressure vessel) are tested with in calendar year of the 5-year anniversary it doesn’t matter unless they are in a dangerous state in which case a test would be required anyway.
Guide to Gas cylinders section 8.1 – “A cylinder may still be used past it’s test date but it must not be recharged past this date until it has been re-tested.”
Guide to Gas Cylinders section 8.6 references the HSW Regulations 2017 section 15.56 & schedule 22 before confirming on “Table 17” that the fire extinguisher test interval is 5 years.
What this means to us currently is if an 8/2024 dated fire extinguisher is sold in 2/2025 it still has a year from 2029 to be tested i.e it can remain in service & be tested during 2030 unless it is discharged.
Original document can be found here
