Requirements
OSHA fire extinguisher requirements (29 CFR 1910.157) explained
Who 1910.157 applies to
The standard applies to every general-industry employer that places portable fire extinguishers in the workplace for employee use. Two exemptions matter:
- Total evacuation policy (1910.157(b)(1)). If your written emergency action plan requires everyone to evacuate immediately and no one is expected to fight fires, you are exempt from the inspection, maintenance, testing, and training requirements. Extinguishers you still hang on the wall for other reasons (fire code, insurance) remain subject to NFPA 10 through your local fire code.
- Designated fire brigade (1910.157(b)(2)). If only designated employees are authorized to use extinguishers, the requirements apply to those employees' equipment and training.
Most facilities do not have a true total-evacuation policy, so the full standard applies.
Placement and selection (1910.157(c) and (d))
- Extinguishers must be mounted, located, and identified so they are readily accessible without subjecting employees to injury.
- Only approved extinguishers may be used; carbon tetrachloride and chlorobromomethane units are prohibited.
- Extinguishers must be kept fully charged and operable and in their designated places except during use.
- Travel distance to an extinguisher: 75 feet or less for Class A hazards, 50 feet or less for Class B, and for Class K (commercial cooking) NFPA 10 requires 30 feet. Class C is placed according to the A or B hazard present. Class D extinguishers for combustible metals must be within 75 feet.
Inspection, maintenance, and testing (1910.157(e))
- (e)(1): Employer is responsible for inspection, maintenance, and testing of all extinguishers in the workplace.
- (e)(2): Visual inspection monthly. Any trained employee can do this. See the monthly checklist.
- (e)(3): Annual maintenance check, plus stored-pressure dry chemical units must be emptied and maintained every 6 years. The employer must record the annual maintenance date and retain this record for one year after the last entry or the life of the shell, whichever is less. Note: this is the annual-maintenance record. Federal OSHA does not separately require a written record of each monthly inspection; that requirement comes from NFPA 10 §7.2.4 as adopted by your state or local fire code, and from good sense, since an unrecorded inspection cannot be shown to an inspector.
- (e)(4): Alternate equivalent protection must be provided while extinguishers are removed for maintenance or recharging.
Hydrostatic testing (1910.157(f))
Extinguisher cylinders must be hydrostatically tested at the intervals in Table L-1 of the standard: 5 years for soda acid, cartridge-operated water, wet chemical, and carbon dioxide; 12 years for dry chemical stored-pressure, dry chemical cartridge-operated, and halon units. Testing must be done by trained persons with suitable equipment, and units showing corrosion, damage, or repairs must be removed rather than tested. Test records (date, tester, pressure) must be kept until the extinguisher is tested again or removed from service.
Training and education (1910.157(g))
Where extinguishers are provided for employee use, the employer must provide an educational program on the general principles of extinguisher use and the hazards of incipient-stage firefighting, upon initial employment and at least annually thereafter. Employees designated to use extinguishers under the emergency action plan must receive hands-on training on the same schedule.
What OSHA actually cites
Portable fire extinguisher violations under 1910.157 are a routine general-industry citation. The common findings are: no evidence of monthly inspection, blocked or unmounted extinguishers, missing annual maintenance, no employee training, and units past their hydrostatic test date. OSHA's Warehousing and Distribution Center National Emphasis Program directs inspectors to check fire extinguisher compliance at covered facilities. Verify current enforcement priorities on osha.gov; they change.
Penalty amounts (2025 schedule)
| Violation type | Maximum penalty |
|---|---|
| Other-than-serious | $16,550 per violation |
| Serious | $16,550 per violation |
| Willful or repeated | $165,514 per violation |
| Failure to abate | $16,550 per day beyond the abatement date |
Penalties are adjusted annually for inflation and reduced for small employers and good faith; check osha.gov/penalties for the current schedule. A clean, dated inspection record is the single most effective good-faith evidence you can present.
Relationship to NFPA 10
OSHA sets the legal floor; NFPA 10 supplies the technical detail (what to look at, how to tag, mounting heights, Class K distances) and is adopted by reference in most state and local fire codes. Meeting NFPA 10 generally satisfies OSHA. Meeting OSHA alone may not satisfy your fire marshal.
Frequently asked questions
Does OSHA require fire extinguishers in every workplace?
Not directly. OSHA requires that if you provide extinguishers for employee use, you meet 1910.157. Whether extinguishers are required at all is usually driven by the fire code (NFPA 1 or the International Fire Code) adopted in your jurisdiction, which nearly always requires them in commercial occupancies.
Does OSHA 1910.157(e)(3) require monthly inspection records?
No. Paragraph (e)(3) covers the annual maintenance check and requires that record to be kept for one year after the last entry or the life of the shell, whichever is less. Monthly visual inspection is required by (e)(2), which does not itself prescribe a written record. The monthly record requirement (month, year, inspector initials, kept 12 months) comes from NFPA 10 §7.2.4 as adopted by most state and local fire codes.
How long must fire extinguisher records be kept?
Annual maintenance record: one year after the last entry or the life of the shell (OSHA 1910.157(e)(3)). Monthly inspection record: 12 months (NFPA 10 §7.2.4.4). Hydrostatic test record: until the next test (OSHA 1910.157(f)(16)). Many organizations keep three years to cover audit look-back periods.
Can a digital record satisfy OSHA and NFPA 10?
Yes. Neither OSHA nor NFPA 10 prescribes paper. A time-stamped electronic record identifying the extinguisher, date, and inspector satisfies the recordkeeping requirements, and NFPA 10 §7.2.4.2 explicitly permits electronic records. Many fire marshals still expect the physical tag to be initialed as well.
Track this automatically
FireGuard schedules the monthly interval for every extinguisher, walks your team through the checklist on a phone, shows which units were missed, and produces the records an inspector asks for. 45-day free trial, no card.
This guide is general information about NFPA 10 and OSHA 1910.157 and is not legal advice. Requirements vary by jurisdiction and edition adopted; your Authority Having Jurisdiction has final say.