Fire Extinguisher Monthly Inspection Log
OSHA requires portable fire extinguishers to be visually inspected monthly, given an annual maintenance check, and hydrostatically tested at the intervals in Table L-1. This log records all three on one sheet: list your units once, and the form works out when each one is next due. Nothing you type is sent to our servers.
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Template for informational purposes only. This document must be reviewed and adapted by a competent or qualified person for your specific jobsite, equipment, and applicable federal, state, and local requirements. It does not constitute legal, engineering, or safety advice and does not by itself establish compliance with OSHA or any other standard. SteelToeTools assumes no liability for its use. Nothing you type is sent to our servers.
How to use this log
- 1Build the register once. Walk the area with the sheet blank and write down every unit: ID or serial, where it hangs, what type it is, and the two dates stamped or tagged on it — last annual maintenance and last hydrostatic test. That is the only slow month.
- 2Let the sheet do the dates. Pick the type from the list and the log applies the Table L-1 interval for you: five years or twelve, plus the six-year internal maintenance date for stored pressure dry chemical units. Next month you print the same sheet with the dates already on it.
- 3Print it blank and carry it. Leave the register rows and the checkpoints empty and the printed sheet comes out ruled with three boxes per line — a clipboard sheet, not a form you have to fill in twice.
- 4Fill the alternate protection column. Every unit you send away leaves a gap. 1910.157(e)(5) says that gap has to be covered while the unit is out, and that is the line an inspector reads.
- 5Keep it with the annual maintenance record. The annual record is the one 1910.157(e)(3) actually requires you to keep. This sheet is how you show the eleven months in between were not blank.
What OSHA requires
29 CFR 1910.157(e)(1) puts the whole thing on the employer: “The employer shall be responsible for the inspection, maintenance and testing of all portable fire extinguishers in the workplace.” Three separate obligations follow, on three separate clocks.
| What | How often | Record required? | ¶ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual inspection | Monthly | None stated in 1910.157 | (e)(2) |
| Maintenance check | Annual — stored pressure units need no internal examination | Yes: the annual maintenance date, kept one year after the last entry or the life of the shell, whichever is less | (e)(3) |
| Internal maintenance, stored pressure dry chemical on a 12-year test | Every 6 years — emptied and maintained; non-refillable disposable containers exempt | Restarts from any recharge or hydrostatic test | (e)(4) |
| Hydrostatic test | 5 or 12 years by type — Table L-1 | Yes: certification record with the test date, the tester's signature and the unit's serial number | (f)(2), (f)(16) |
What the monthly inspection covers — and who says so
OSHA never lists the monthly checkpoints. 1910.157(e)(2) is one sentence: portable extinguishers, or the hose used in lieu of them, “shall be visually inspected monthly.” The detailed monthly checklist everyone quotes comes from NFPA 10, a copyrighted consensus standard we name but do not reproduce. The checkpoints on this form are instead the conditions 1910.157 and 1926.150 state in their own text — each one carries the paragraph it comes from.
There is one place where the copyrighted standard is binding anyway, and it is the one most construction employers miss: 1926.150(c)(1)(viii) requires portable fire extinguishers on construction work to be “inspected periodically and maintained in accordance with Maintenance and Use of Portable Fire Extinguishers, NFPA No. 10A-1970” — incorporated by reference, and therefore enforceable. If you run construction work, that edition is the maintenance rule OSHA will hold you to, alongside the monthly inspection of 1910.157(e)(2).
Table L-1 — hydrostatic test intervals
| Type of extinguisher | Test interval (years) |
|---|---|
| Soda acid (stainless steel shell) | 5 |
| Cartridge operated water and/or antifreeze | 5 |
| Stored pressure water and/or antifreeze | 5 |
| Wetting agent | 5 |
| Foam (stainless steel shell) | 5 |
| Aqueous Film Forming foam (AFFF) | 5 |
| Loaded stream | 5 |
| Dry chemical with stainless steel | 5 |
| Carbon dioxide | 5 |
| Dry chemical, stored pressure, with mild steel, brazed brass or aluminum shells | 12 |
| Dry chemical, cartridge or cylinder operated, with mild steel shells | 12 |
| Halon 1211 | 12 |
| Halon 1301 | 12 |
| Dry powder, cartridge or cylinder operated with mild steel shells | 12 |
Extinguishers with shells of copper or brass joined by soft solder or rivets were to be removed from service by January 1, 1982 and are not hydrostatically tested. OSHA's own eTool notes that soda acid and cartridge operated water and antifreeze units, although still in Table L-1, are obsolete. Wet chemical (Class K) units do not appear in Table L-1 at all: follow the manufacturer's instructions and the applicable fire code.
Five findings that void the interval
1910.157(f)(2) says an extinguisher is tested at the Table L-1 interval except under five conditions — and each of them is something the monthly walk is where you notice:
- the unit has been repaired by soldering, welding, brazing or a patching compound — (f)(2)(i);
- the cylinder or shell threads are damaged — (f)(2)(ii);
- corrosion has caused pitting, including under a removable nameplate assembly — (f)(2)(iii);
- the extinguisher has been burned in a fire — (f)(2)(iv);
- a calcium chloride agent has been used in a stainless steel shell — (f)(2)(v).
On top of those, 1910.157(f)(4) requires a hydrostatic test whenever a unit shows new evidence of corrosion or mechanical injury. A shell that fails a test, or is not fit for testing, is removed from service and from the workplace — 1910.157(f)(14).
Two types that come off the wall for good
1910.157(c)(3) prohibits providing or making available any extinguisher using carbon tetrachloride or chlorobromomethane, and 1926.150(c)(1)(vii) repeats the ban for construction. 1910.157(c)(5) requires the employer to remove from service all soldered or riveted shell self-generating soda acid, self-generating foam, or gas cartridge water type units that are operated by inverting the extinguisher. If one of those is still hanging in a plant room, the monthly walk is where it gets found.
This generator produces a template. It does not establish compliance with 1910.157, 1926.150, NFPA 10, your local fire code or your insurer's requirements, and it does not replace the annual maintenance check or the hydrostatic test, both of which are done by trained persons with the proper equipment. The employer remains responsible for the inspection, maintenance and testing of every unit and for the accuracy of this record.
Frequently asked questions
Sources & references
- 29 CFR 1910.157 — Portable fire extinguishers: general requirements (c), distribution (d), monthly inspection and annual maintenance (e), hydrostatic testing and Table L-1 (f), training (g)
- 29 CFR 1926.150 — Fire protection (construction): extinguisher spacing at (c)(1), and maintenance per NFPA 10A-1970 incorporated by reference at (c)(1)(viii)
- OSHA — Evacuation Plans and Procedures eTool: portable fire extinguishers, OSHA requirements (inspection, maintenance, hydrostatic testing, training)
- OSHA — Evacuation Plans and Procedures eTool: extinguisher basics, fire classes A, B, C, D and K and the agents that match them
- NFPA 10 — Standard for Portable Fire Extinguishers (cited, not reproduced; construction incorporates the 1970 edition of NFPA 10A by reference at 1926.150(c)(1)(viii))
Content checked against these sources — last reviewed August 28, 2026.