Revision of BS 5839-1:2025 – What You Need to Know

BS 5839-1 is a long-established industry Code of Practice, which has been revised for the first time since 2017. To ensure safety compliance and adherence to the required Standards, Churches Fire & Security is well abreast of the revisions and our commitments to customer safety.

Who is the Standard for?

BS 5839-1:2025 is designed to guide those who plan, design, install and maintain fire detection and alarm systems in commercial, non-domestic buildings, such as hospitals, offices and hotels. Commercial Managers, Fire & Safety Officers, Safety Advisors and fire industry professionals work to the Standard to ensure they meet legal and safety requirements.

What’s new in BS 5839-1:2025?

It has been eight years since the last revision of this Standard, and as with previous revisions, the changes are not retrospective. Churches Fire & Security always services our customer sites to the current Standard and ensures that additional new works meets the new requirements.

Whilst BSI have made numerous clarifications in this revision, much of the information is in existing versions. We have highlighted some of the changes – please contact our knowledgeable team or refer to the complete document for full details:

• The wording and layout of the different sections have been updated.
• Restated that any variations must be recorded in the fire log book.
• The minimum grades of signalling that can be used for L and P alarm category systems.
• Businesses are required to label monitoring panels – this must indicate to all users that a connection to the fire and rescue services is active. Contact details for the Alarm Receiving Centre must be displayed.
• Fire detection and alarm system interfaces should be accessible for maintenance.
• Batteries and calculation formulas must be labelled.
• Zone plans must be reviewed and their location verified during annual services.
• Fire alarm sounder tones must only be used for fire evacuation, with clearly different sounds used for other scenarios, i.e. lockdowns.