FIRE SAFETY FEATURE Teaming up with the Honey Monster


Sugar Puffs have been a mainstay of the UK breakfast cereal market for decades. The cereal is owned by Honey Monster Foods, and the company has recently installed an open protocol fire protection system from Hochiki Europe to increase protection at its manufacturing site


S


ince the 1970s the Honey Monster has been a familiar face on our


television screens, featuring in some memorable advertising campaigns that have seen him working with people as diverse as Boyzone and Kevin Keegan. Previously owned by Quaker Oats, in


2006 the Sugar Puffs brand was acquired by Honey Monster Foods. Still based at the same site, the company now also manufactures a number of other products including Honey Waffles, Choco Puffs, Choco Waffles and Monster Puff bars and is part of the Raisio Group. The production environment at Honey


Monster Foods is busy and, as such, safety for the personnel working there is paramount. To achieve this an effective fire detection system is vital, however, for Honey Monster Foods the problems of unwanted alarms had become untenable and John Higgins, the company’s project engineering manager, explained, “Things had got to a point where an unwanted alarm was a weekly occurrence. Needless to say, this was highly disruptive as it required a full evacuation of the premises and a shut down of the production plant, all of which was a waste of valuable time and money.” John Higgins contacted High


Wycombe-based Surefire Services, a UK specialist in the configuration of fire detection solutions for industry and commerce, to see what could be done to address the problem. Marcus Kemp, the company’s services


director, commented, “We had previously worked with Honey Monster Foods on the installation of a water mist system in one part of its premises, so we were already familiar with the issues that John and his team were having. After carrying out a full site survey and assessment of the existing closed protocol system, we decided that due to its age it was uneconomical to try to repair it. We therefore recommended replacing it with an open protocol system from Hochiki Europe.”


IP RATINGS One of the reasons that Honey Monster Foods had experienced so many unwanted alarms was due to water


entering the call points during the regular cleaning of the production facility. In order to prevent this type of problem reoccurring Surefire recommended the use of 70 HCP- W(SCI) weather-proof call points, which could offer the requisite level of ingress protection (IP). “A product’s IP rating consists of the letters IP followed by two digits,” commented Paul Adams, Hochiki Europe’s deputy marketing manager. “It classifies the degrees of protection provided against the intrusion of solid objects, dust, accidental contact and water in electrical enclosures. The higher the number, the higher the protection offered.” The IP rating of the HCP-E


is IP67 the (highest possible is IP68). IP67 means that the product is protected against the effects of being immersed in water and it is also dust tight. The new system is based


around Hochiki Europe’s Enhanced Systems Protocol (ESP), a total communications solution for intelligent fire detection and fully integrated systems that provides the flexibility to accommodate simple addressable systems, as well as integrated building management and complex life safety systems.


/ ELECTRICALENGINEERING


Above: the new system installed at Honey Monster Foods is based around Hochiki Europe’s Enhanced Systems Protocol (ESP)


Below: since the 1970s the Honey Monster has been at the forefront of a number of memorable advertising campaigns


SENSORS As well as the weather-proof call points, a number of smoke sensors were also configured around a Kentec Electronics control panel. Kemp added, “We installed a number of ALG-EN optical smoke sensors that feature Hochiki Europe’s pioneering High Performance Chamber Technology. “This design minimises the


differences in sensitivity experienced in flaming and smouldering fires and the result is a high performance optical chamber that is equally responsive to all smoke types and helps to reduce the possibility of unwanted alarms. It can be easily removed or replaced for cleaning which is something that is particularly useful in a food manufacturing environment.” In order to minimise the amount of


disruption caused by the installation of the new equipment, Surefire deployed a team, who were able to complete the work in just five days. This involved keeping the original control panels live while the new ones were installed. This ensured that complete protection could be provided at all times. The installation was


completed on time to the exact specification required and no unwanted alarms have since been reported. Higgins, concluded, “The new fire detection system has made a tangible difference to the operation of the building and we are all benefitting from the lack of disruption to our working days. I’m confident that we have the best possible life safety solution in place and we have


commissioned Surefire to extend the system into other


areas of the building.”


Hochiki Europe www.hochikieurope.com T: 01634 266 566


Enter 202 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING | MAY 2014 11


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