Gary,
We currently carry a few loaners on the trucks however we have been looking to develop a formal policy for quite a while now and some of the questions we’ve pondered which you may have considered as well are:
Is the crew who is installing the loaner remembering to leave the maintenance instructions with the occupant?
If your policy includes wording for the return of a smoke alarm should that alarm be a new unopened unit as opposed to the loaner? (Do we really want to re-install an alarm that has been previously installed? And what are the chances we will retrieve the instructions?)
If you are installing a loaner (I’m assuming these would be battery operated) in the location of a missing or inoperative hardwired unit have we left them in a situation where we’ve reduced the level of protection?
I think our department management wants to lean in the same direction as Oakville and get away from the loaner program and shift the responsibility back to the property owner where it belongs.