SWP - Training Tower and Prop Inspection

Inspecting every training structure and prop before each use, monthly where this procedure says so, annually by a competent person, engineer or licensed gas fitter, and after any event that could have damaged it; then tagging out what fails and returning it to service only after repair. It covers training towers and hose towers used for training, burn buildings, container and flashover simulators, gas-fired props, forcible entry props, ventilation and saw props, roof props, ladder and bailout props, SCBA confidence and maze courses, rope anchors on training structures, and the driver training course. It applies to the department’s own facilities and to any facility it rents or borrows, where the host’s current inspection record is checked before use. Basis: Training Safety and Live Fire Program section 5.6; the training facilities content now inside the fire service training standard (NFPA 1400, 2026, former NFPA 1402); the accreditation expectation that training facilities and equipment are adequate and maintained (CPSE, 2019, criteria 8C.1 and 8C.5); and the general regulatory duty to inspect equipment before use and by a competent person at set intervals (J15 Equipment Inspection, Ladders and Aerial Devices). (S1)

• Structural failure of a tower floor, stair, landing or burn room: spalled concrete, corroded steel, failed welds.
• Falls from towers, roofs and props when guardrails, anchors or window sills fail, or were never designed for the load put on them.
• Liner failure that exposes structure to heat; thermocouples that read low and hide the real temperature.
• Gas leaks, delayed ignition and flashback at gas-fired props; emergency stops that do not stop.
• Doors and hatches that jam and trap a crew; egress blocked by debris from the last session.
• Cuts, punctures and eye injuries at forcible entry and saw props; flying debris; blade contact.
• Slips on wet, icy or fuel-soaked surfaces; trips on hose and debris.
• Artificial smoke and fuel residue in confidence courses; carbon monoxide from saws and generators in enclosed props.
• The public, children or untrained members getting onto towers and props.
• The quiet failure: a pre-use check skipped because the prop “was fine last week”.

The inspector’s PPE above; the checklist in section 6 C and the pre-use log; the manufacturer’s instructions for each prop; out-of-service tags and barricade tape; a camera and flashlight; a gas detector or leak-detection solution for gas props; the thermocouple test reference where the manufacturer provides one; the current annual reports and certificates for the facility (anchor certification, gas fitter certificate, engineer’s report).

1. The training division keeps the facility inventory and the schedule: pre-use before every use; monthly for props that stand outside (forcible entry, saw and roof props) and for extinguishers; annually by the competent person, engineer or gas fitter (in the month the department’s Annual Inspection and Review Schedule sets); after any trigger in step 2.
2. After-event triggers. A fall arrest on an anchor; an impact or overload; fire beyond the room’s limits or a thermocouple reading over the posted limit; a reported crack, sag or new sound; a prop malfunction; a severe storm; more than 90 days without use (department choice); any modification. The item is tagged out until the after-event inspection is done.

3. Check the tag and the log: annual inspection in date, no open defect, the last pre-use entry signed.
4. Walk the site: access, lighting, fences and gates; ice, water and fuel spills; housekeeping and debris; hose and cords.
5. Test what can be tested without load: emergency stops, doors and hatches, shutters and vents, communications, the extinguisher and first aid kit.
6. Work through the lines for that prop in the table in part C.
7. Decision point: pass, restrict or tag out? Pass: record and use. Restrict: record the restriction (“ground floor only”, “no rope work from the north anchor”) and brief it at the start of the evolution. Tag out: part D.

8. Tag the item at its point of use (date, defect, by whom), barricade it where people could still reach it, and tell the training officer the same day.
9. Report it on Form - Hazard Report. It enters the Corrective Action Register with a priority on the department’s one scale, P1 (Imminent), P2 (Serious), P3 (Moderate) or P4 (Improvement), which sets the interim control and the dates. An immediate structural, fall or gas hazard is P1 (Imminent): the tag-out in step 8 is the interim control, the fire chief and the JOHSC co-chairs are told within 24 hours, the plan is due in 2 working days and the fix in 7 days.
10. Change the training plan: no evolution uses a tagged item. The instructor chooses another prop or postpones.
11. Return to service only after repair and reinspection by the competent person, gas fitter or engineer the defect calls for, recorded on the tag and in the log and countersigned by the program manager. The person who signs the return removes the tag.

12. Every pre-use check (date, item, result, any restriction, initials) goes in the pre-use log kept with the facility or in the training records system. Annual reports, certificates and calibration records go in {{Records system}}.

• Fall or fall arrest: rescue under the facility’s rescue plan (SWP - Fall Protection on Apparatus and at Heights); the anchor and the equipment come out of service for inspection.
• Gas leak or fire at a prop: emergency stop, isolate the supply at the main valve, move everyone upwind, call the gas fitter.
• Structural failure: evacuate, account for everyone, set an exclusion zone, and report it to the regulator as the applicable law requires, which for a structural failure can apply whether or not anyone is hurt (J08 Incident Reporting and Investigation).
• Injury: first aid and EMS; preserve the scene; injury report; triage through the learning system (Incident Investigation and Learning Program).

Pre-use log; monthly checks; annual reports and certificates; the tag-out log; hazard reports and register entries. The training division reports inspection currency (the program indicator “prop and facility inspection currency”) in the Training Safety team’s quarterly update. Records are kept at least five years, the program’s minimum, or longer where the applicable law requires (J15 Equipment Inspection, Ladders and Aerial Devices).

Lead instructors learn this procedure in instructor orientation and at annual recurrency. The competent person’s, engineer’s and gas fitter’s qualifications are on file before they inspect. The Training Safety team reviews the procedure each year with the facilities contact, and after any structural, fall or gas event, starting with a learning-team session with the instructors who use the props. Sign-off: the program manager. Consulted: the JOHSC, which inspects the training ground at least annually.

• Program: Training Safety and Live Fire Program sections 5.6 and 7; toolkit T6.
• Policy: Policy - Training and Competency.
• Procedures: SWP - Live Fire Training Evolutions; SWP - Fall Protection on Apparatus and at Heights; Working at Heights and Fall Protection Program.
• Forms and audit: Form - Hazard Report; Checklist - Training Safety and Live Fire; Annual Inspection and Review Schedule.

This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it.