NFPA 72 code sections · System Testing & Maintenance
If it isn't written down, it didn't happen: ITM records
Every inspection, test and maintenance visit is documented — the code even provides the inspection and testing form. Records show the date, who did the work, each device tested with its result, deficiencies and what was done about them. Records are kept until the next test of the same type and for one year after that, so there is always a baseline and a comparison. The AHJ may require the report be submitted to them. Keeping the panel's site-specific software, the original acceptance documents and the as-built drawings with the ITM records makes the next technician's job possible.
NFPA 72 reference
Chapter 14 / Chapter 7 — Documentation
14.6 Records (14.6.2 permanent records; 14.6.2.4 retention until the next test and for 1 year thereafter; Figure 14.6.2.4 Inspection and Testing Form); 7.7 Records, Record Retention; 7.5.6 Record of Completion
References use NFPA 72 2019/2022 numbering — section numbers can shift between editions, so confirm in the edition your AHJ has adopted.
On the job
An annual test report lists 'detectors: pass'. Six months later a lawsuit asks whether detector 3-14, which failed in a fire, had been tested. Nobody can prove it was. The company now uses device-by-device reports with addresses and results — and keeps the prior year's report for comparison exactly as the retention rule requires.
Quick check
1. ITM records are retained:
2. A compliant test record includes:
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