FIRE & ELECTRICAL SAFETY
INVEST IN THE BEST
Aston Bowles, from Advanced, discusses automatic fire systems and how they are overcoming issues caused by fire system false alarms.
False alarms from fire systems are one of the major issues in building and safety management. They reduce credibility in alarms, cause serious disruption, divert resources, and cost money, as fire departments are now charging for call outs.
According to the UK’s Fire Industry Association, false fire alarms cost £1billion each year, with a London fire engine being called to a false alarm every 12 minutes. Figures also show that across England Fire and Rescue Services attended 293,100 false alarms in 2013/14. There are many reasons why facilities managers, fire and health and safety professionals should concentrate on false alarm reduction as a core output from their fire systems.
PREVENTATIVE MEASURES A high performance analogue fire system can do a huge amount to reduce false alarms, by enabling the total control and configurability of the false alarm strategy across any site, as well as combining automatic and human confirmation.
The clever algorithms in detection heads, found in Advanced’s AlarmCalm, can increasingly differentiate between false signals such as steam and burning toast and actual fires, and can go some way to identifying whether a signal is real or false.
The residents of a building can play a key role in false alarm reduction, and
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human confirmation is a key factor for some fire and rescue service call- outs. A fire panel effectively knits together all of these detection and confirmation methods.
The right panels also allow detectors to work in a smarter fashion, using double knock, coincidence or heat detectors to confirm a fire. The system can respond differently to heat and smoke, with multi-sensors, and for detector sensitivities. Alarm verification times and investigation delays can be changed at different times of day, allowing strategies to be configured depending on the level of staff cover available, or if the usage of an area changes.
FALSE ALARM INPUT Some manufacturers have also introduced dedicated false alarm input devices that can be used by trained staff or residents to extend an investigation period, allowing a local alarm signal to be verified before it escalates.
The complicated tenancies, densities and mixes of users in modern buildings mean an alarm system must be able to handle a range of very specific needs. Systems must be able to divide false alarm management strategies across buildings, between floors and even rooms. This allows the strategy to be configured for the needs of individual users, while reinforcing a system wide approach.
If an alarm signal has been verified as real, for example if certain
criteria are met on the panel, or if a manual call point is activated, the system will enter a full fire alarm condition. Even then the system can build in options to cater for different evacuation strategies.
Unlike in an ‘all out’ system - with single stage evacuation - phased evacuation allows the fire system to be programmed dynamically to evacuate those most in danger first, sometimes to an adjoining protected area where they are able to remain for a time in reasonable safety, allowing for safe and more efficient evacuation.
They also allow two stage alarms (alert and evacuate), local (staff) sounders, and panel notifications alerting staff to potential; issues before signalling a zonal or even full site evacuation. Alarm signals to other output devices, such as automatic door release mechanisms, or smoke control and ventilation systems are allowed to work independently of any evacuation delays.
The options for those involved in health and safety to manage their false alarms strategy have never been more powerful and it’s an area that today’s professionals must take seriously. The good news is that the right strategy and the right system specification can quickly make a dramatic difference.
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