Fire Safety

1. Fire Safety The cost of false alarms? Reducing risk, increasing confidence and saving lives

2. Fire Safety Why is there problem?

3. Fire Safety • If an automatic fire-detection and fire-alarm system is used and maintained properly, its fast response to a fire that is just beginning can greatly reduce the risk to life and limit damage to property. • However, features that provide this fast response can also cause false alarms.

4. Fire Safety How big is the problem?

5. Fire Safety • About 90% of automatic fire-detection and fire-alarm systems do not regularly cause false alarms. However, the remaining 10% are involved in most false alarms.

6. Fire Safety • According to the ‘Fire Statistics Monitor, in 2011-12 there were nearly 249,000 false alarms attended by the fire and rescue services. • This does not include false alarms where the FRS did not attend

7. Fire Safety What is the cost of false alarms?

8. Fire Safety • The cost of false alarms in the UK is estimated to be about £1 billion a year.

9. Fire Safety • The cost to the fire and rescue service • Disruption of business • Attendance to reset systems • Increased life cost of systems

10. Fire Safety What are the other factors to false alarms?

11. Fire Safety • Diverts the fire and rescue service from dealing with real emergencies • Reduces the risk on the road for the FRS • Reduced faith in the system by residents • Risk of reduce response from the FRS • This may affect your customer service and the general routine of your organisation • Increase in costs to the local community

12. Fire Safety What can we do to reduce false alarms?

13. Fire Safety What does the legislation say?

14. Legislation (RRO) Requirements - Maintenance • Maintenance17. —(1) Where necessary in order to safeguard the safety of relevant persons the responsible person must ensure that the premises and any facilities, equipment and devices provided in respect of the premises under this Order or, subject to paragraph (6), under any other enactment, including any enactment repealed or revoked by this Order, are subject to a suitable system of maintenance and are maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.

15. Legislation (RRO) Requirements - Maintenance • Under fire-safety law, employers and others responsible for buildings must provide effective • fire precautions to protect employees as well as people who may be living in or visiting the property. • Your fire-detection and fire-alarm system forms part of those fire precautions. • A system that causes false alarms may not be efficient as people will gradually lose confidence in the fire alarm and start to ignore its warning. • So it is important that you recognise the importance of keeping the fire-detection and fire-alarm system in good working order and removing the causes of false alarms.

16. Fire Safety – What is required Reducing False Alarms- What Should You Expect from Your Maintainer? • Fire maintenance is not simply about servicing and maintaining equipment, but making sure you have the correct equipment, located in the right place to protect life and minimise false alarms.

17. Fire Safety – What is required What Should You Expect? • Avoiding preventable false alarms that result in resets of fire alarm systems • Ensuring residents have faith in the system and • Eliminating unnecessary costs.

18. Fire Safety – The effect of reducing false alarms What is the effect of reducing false alarms? • Removes the risk of reduce response from the FRS • Reduces the logistics of attending to Reset systems • Reduces cost of resetting fire alarm systems • Reduces contamination of devices, reducing maintenance costs.

19. Fire Safety – What are the causes of false alarms What are the causes of false alarms? false alarms are the result of faulty equipment, malicious acts, human error, or activities near detectors.

20. Fire Safety – What are the causes of false alarms What are the causes of false alarms? • Pollutants in the air setting off smoke detectors; • Extremely high temperatures setting off heat detectors; • Vandalism or malicious acts; • Mistakes in using the system; • The equipment being faulty or not being maintained properly; • Fire detectors or red ‘break glass’ units being in the wrong place; • The fire-detection system not being appropriate for the building or how it is used.

21. Fire Safety –False alarms Monitoring of false alarms? If your fire-detection and fire-alarm system is well designed and maintained; • It should produce no more than one false alarm a year for every 50 detectors fitted, • and no more than one false alarm in any four-week period. • For large fire-detection systems, the aim is to reduce the level of false alarms well below that of one a year for every 50 detectors

22. Fire Safety – Examples of false alarms Examples of false alarms? • Steam activating an optical smoke detector • Change the detector for an ionisation smoke detector, combined heat & smoke detector. • Relocate the detector, moving the detector a small distance can stop the false alarm. • Ensure there is a bathroom extractor

23. Fire Safety – Examples of false alarms Examples of false alarms? • Cooking fumes activating an Ionisation detector • Change the detector for an optical smoke detector, combined heat & smoke detector, smoke & CO detector • Ensure there is a cooker extract • Door closer on the kitchen door

24. Fire Safety – Changes in the standards Please Ask yourself this Question – Have you been made aware of the changes to the British Standards BS5839?

25. Fire Safety – Changes in the standards Changes to British Standards • Changes in BS5839 part 1 • Changes in BS5839 part 6

26. Fire Safety – Changes in the standards Changes in BS5839 part 6 • Clarity to Sheltered Accommodation and it’s needs • A) Alert residents to a fire in their own flat (increased detection for new systems) • B) Alerting the FRS (minimising false alarms) • C) Early warning of fire in communal facilities (possible reduction in communal fire alarm systems) • D) Signals to the FRS not blocked by other alarms

27. Fire Safety – Changes in the standards Signals to the FRS not blocked by other alarms • Warden call system, does a pull cord alarm take priority over smoke alarms • Intruder Alarms, does a PIR alarm take priority over a smoke alarm.

28. Fire Safety – Changes in the standards Cases • There has been recorded cases on Sheltered Accommodation sites where a pull cord alarm to a real emergency has blocked a genuine fire call from a another apartment in the same development, allowing the fire to take hold.

29. Fire Safety – Changes in the standards Changes in BS5839 part 1 • Increased importance of fire alarm zone charts

30. Fire Safety – Changes in the standards • One of the factors in delaying the fire fighters tackling a fire in the Rosepark Care home was an incorrect zone plan, 14 elderly people lost their lives

31. Fire Safety – Maintenance Maintenance • Like all electrical systems, your fire-detection and fire-alarm system will be effective only if it is maintained and regularly checked by a competent person. Poor maintenance will not only lead to false alarms, it may also lead to a genuine fire alarm being ignored or missed. It can also reduce the life of the system. All these problems lead to extra costs for you.

32. Fire Safety – Maintenance Questions