Fire Safety

Fire Safety Audit for a Factory: Scope, Checklist and What the Report Must Contain

Name: Secured Engineers Private Limited — Noida (Delhi NCR)
Address: Supertech, Astralis Supernova, Sector 94, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201301, IN
Telephone: +91 70099 85817

22 October 2026 · 5 min read · by Secured Engineers Editorial Team

Title card reading Fire Safety Audit for a Factory: Scope, Checklist and What the Report Must Contain. — Title card. Not a photograph of a Secured Engineers site.

A fire safety audit is a documented examination of a factory's fire prevention, protection and escape arrangements, measured against a stated basis: the approved NOC drawing, the National Building Code Part 4, the Indian Standard for each system and your state's fire rules. A useful report gives findings with evidence, ranks them by risk and sets an action plan with owners and dates.

What is a factory audit measured against?

An auditor needs a yardstick, and a good report names it on page one. For a factory the usual stack is:

The approved fire drawing and NOC conditions. This is what the authority accepted, so it is the first thing the audit compares the site with.
NBC 2016 Part 4, published by BIS, as the design basis for fire and life safety, together with whatever later code revision your state has adopted.
The Indian Standard for each system: IS 15105 for sprinklers, IS 13039 for external hydrants, IS 2189 for detection and alarm, IS 2190 for portable extinguishers.
Section 38 of the Factories Act, 1948, which requires practicable measures to prevent and control fire, safe means of escape and extinguishing equipment, and workers who are trained in the escape routine. States add their own factory and fire rules.

The audit is not an AMC visit. An AMC keeps the equipment running; an audit asks whether the whole protection scheme still matches the building, its contents and its people.

What does the scope cover?

Area	What the auditor checks	Evidence to ask for
Occupancy and storage	Whether use, stacking height and commodity match the hazard class the system was designed for	Hazard class in the design basis; photographs of racks and stacks
Fire water and pumps	Tank level and make-up, pump auto-start, diesel standby, pressure at the remote point	Pump run log, test readings, tank record
Hydrants and hose reels	Accessibility, hose and nozzle condition, spacing against the design, output test	Hydrant inspection sheets, pressure and output readings
Sprinklers	Valves open and locked, heads clean and unpainted, alarm gong, flow switches, flushing history	Valve position record, test and flush certificates
Detection and alarm	Panel status, zone tests, battery, sounder audibility, device obstruction	Weekly and quarterly test register, fault log
Extinguishers	Type suited to the fire class, position, seals, gauge, refill dates	Extinguisher register, tags
Escape and compartmentation	Exit doors, signage, emergency lighting, openings through fire walls	Approved plan against the site walk
Electrical fire risk	Panel rooms, cable entries, overloaded sockets, housekeeping near transformers and DG sets	Last electrical inspection and test records
People and procedure	Fire team, drills, evacuation plan, contact lists, training records	Drill register, attendance sheets

What do the checks and tests look like on site?

Paper review is only half of the job. The auditor should start the pump, and read the gauge at the farthest hydrant. IS 13039 sets a quarterly test at which three adjacent hydrants are opened and the yield is read against the design, with 1,125 litres a minute at a minimum of 5.25 kgf/cm² named in the standard. Your approved calculation sets the pass mark that applies to you. The auditor should also operate a trigger device on a detection zone and see the sounders and the repeat panel respond, and read the pressure gauges above and below each sprinkler installation valve.

Two findings recur. The first is a design that no longer matches the use. Under IS 15105, stored goods can be protected at ordinary-hazard density only up to stated heights by commodity category (4 m for the lowest category and 1.25 m for the highest), and anything above is treated as high hazard. A warehouse that has racked higher than its sprinkler design fails the audit however well the pumps run. The second is the wrong extinguisher. IS 2190 rates water-type extinguishers as suitable for Class A fires only, so a water extinguisher beside an electrical panel is a finding. Our fire extinguisher calculator shows how many units and which types an area needs.

What must the report contain?

Section	What it must say
Scope and basis	Buildings covered, date and duration of the visit, the codes and the NOC conditions used as the yardstick, and what was not covered
Method and limits	Which tests were run and with what instruments, what was only viewed, and what could not be accessed
Findings by system	Each finding with location, evidence (reading, photograph, record), the requirement it fails and the reference to it
Risk ranking	A consistent scale, for example critical, major, minor, with the rule used to place each finding
Action plan	Corrective action, named owner, target date, interim measure while the defect stands
Closure evidence	What proof closes each item, such as a retest reading or a certificate
Annexures and sign-off	Test sheets, photographs, the auditor's name, qualifications and signature

Reject any report that lists only "compliant" and "non-compliant" ticks. Without evidence and a ranking you cannot decide what to fix first, and you cannot show the fire officer what was done.

How does the audit connect to NOC renewal and insurance?

Certificates are time-bound. A sample 2026 Delhi Fire Service certificate for an industrial building has a three-year term, requires an annual declaration in Form K and asks for a renewal application six months before expiry. Its conditions put the duty to keep fire equipment in working condition at all times on the management. States differ, so confirm yours; our Fire NOC guide for Punjab, Haryana and UP and the page on Fire NOC assistance cover the northern states.

Time the audit about a year before renewal is due, so the actions have months to close, not days. For insurance, ask your insurer or broker which survey and what evidence of maintenance the policy expects. Expect the insurer to ask for records much like an inspector does: test logs, extinguisher registers and the closure of earlier findings.

How Secured Engineers helps

We do not run fire safety audits, and we think the audit should be independent of the contractor who builds or maintains the system. What we do is design fire fighting systems in-house, file the Fire NOC in-house and carry out the rectification an audit throws up: pumps, tanks, hydrant and sprinkler modifications, detection and extinguisher changes. Fire, electrical, HVAC and solar work can sit under one contract. We work from offices in Noida (Delhi NCR) and Ludhiana, with 535+ projects across 18+ states and 89.77% repeat clients.

If you already hold an audit report or a NOC drawing, send it and we will tell you which findings are design faults, which are installation or maintenance faults, and what rectification involves. Start from our fire fighting systems page, message us on WhatsApp, call +91 70099 85817, or ask for a free proposal.

Frequently asked

Is a fire safety audit the same as a Fire NOC inspection?

No. A Fire NOC inspection is the fire service checking your building against its own rules before it issues or renews the certificate. A fire safety audit is a documented review, usually commissioned by you, that tests how the systems really perform and lists corrective actions. A clean audit helps you pass the inspection, but it does not replace it.

How often should a factory carry out a fire safety audit?

State rules and insurer conditions decide the minimum, so ask your fire office and insurer. As a practice, many factories audit once a year and again before NOC renewal or after a layout, storage or process change. The audit is also worth repeating after any major fire pump, tank or sprinkler modification.

Who should carry out the audit?

Someone competent and independent of the contractor who installed or maintains the systems. Some states keep a list of approved fire safety auditors, so check with your fire office before you appoint. Ask for the auditor's qualifications, sample reports and the test instruments they will bring, and avoid an audit that is only a walk-through with a photo set.

What does a fire safety audit cost?

Fees depend on the area, the number of buildings, the systems installed and how much testing is included, so we do not quote a figure. Ask for a fixed scope in writing: the buildings covered, the tests performed, the report format and whether one re-visit to verify closure is included.

What happens if the audit finds serious defects?

Rank them by risk and fix the critical items first: closed valves, a pump that fails to start, a dead panel, blocked exits. Record the interim measures such as extra watch staff or portable cover while repairs run. Then close each finding with evidence, such as a test reading or photo, and keep the file for the next inspection.