It’s not easy running a fire inspection agency. Fire safety codes are always evolving, and there’s a lot to keep track of between scheduling and performing inspections, balancing schedules, and supporting personnel. Fire inspections typically involve keeping life-saving equipment and systems in good working order, so if you don’t do a good job, people could be hurt or killed.

Fire inspection software can help. With the right online software tool, you can eliminate all of the paperwork that fire inspection generates by turning it digital instead. You’ll be able to get signatures from customers when you need them, while the inspector is still there with them. The software will help your inspectors stay up to date with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidelines. Your inspectors in the field will be able to communicate more seamlessly with workers in the office, and you’ll be able to build smarter schedules that maximize productivity.

Eliminate Paperwork

The average fire inspector conducts four inspections a day, and that can generate a lot of paperwork, often more than an hour’s worth per inspection. Doing that paperwork on, well, paper takes up more of an inspector’s time. There’s a lot to assemble. Staff could wind up digging through filing cabinets to find previous data, scanning and photocopying handwritten and hardcopy reports, and uploading PDFs and pictures from USB drives. Taking pictures on a separate device in the field, as well as scribbling inspection notes on a sheet of paper, or forgetting the right forms and having to go back to the office, or just filing the completed reports can take up even more time.

With fire inspection software, you can make all your inspection paperwork digital, which makes it easy to fill out on the spot. Inspectors will be able to take pictures with the same device, so those photos will go right into the report. There won’t be paper files that can get damaged or be lost. Repair proposals will be easier to generate as no one will have to sit in the back office and decipher inspectors’ handwriting. Inspectors will be able to dictate notes or type them into a mobile device. Everything is automatically added into the report, and the report itself can be generated with just the click of a button when the inspector is finished.

Get Signatures When and Where You Need Them

Often, fire inspections reveal repairs that need to be made to the equipment or property to keep it up to code. Most fire inspection software tools have a repair proposal “wizard” that allows inspectors to generate repair proposals on the scene of the inspection. What used to take a month or more now takes minutes. That means no more hunting down a customer to get them to sign off on a repair proposal, which can be hard to do a month or six weeks later. Now, you can get that signature on the spot, right after the repair is finished, and employees in the office will begin working on ordering parts and scheduling repairs right away.

Stay Effortlessly Up to Date with NFPA Guidelines

NFPA fire codes change all the time, with the association making updates to its codes whenever new research or knowledge about fires comes out. Fire safety inspectors are busy and sometimes they struggle to keep up with changes in fire codes. And, of course, different jurisdictions follow different editions of the NFPA codes. Fire protection software makes it easy for fire inspectors to stay on top of the relevant edition of NFPA codes for their jurisdictions.

Improve Communication

Fire protection software allows anyone on your team to see fire inspection notes, which are date- and time-stamped. Syncing between devices ensures that no update goes unnoticed. Real-time digital communication between staff in the field and staff in the office means no more delays in service. Inspectors can even write up and invoice small repairs on the spot.

Create Smarter Schedules

Building out inspection schedules by hand introduces quite a lot of room for human error – and then you’ve got disgruntled customers complaining because an inspector didn’t show up on time or didn’t show up at all. Fire protection software makes it easy to create smart inspection schedules that sync across devices. You’ll be able to see who’s doing what at a glance, so you can make sure all available blocks of time are booked.

Isn’t it time your fire inspection agency stopped doing things the old-fashioned way? A modern software solution can streamline processes and improve fire safety across your community – and that’s what really matters.