Slide 1

Slide 2 Speaker ; Martin Harvey, Chairman, Fire Industry Association Martin has been involved with the FIA (BFPSA) for over 25 years during this period has sat on a number of working groups, including representing FIA on the CFOA Policy for the reduction of false alarms and unwanted fire signals. He began his career with EMI Electronics, working at the R&D department of AFA Minerva on low voltage fire detectors and controllers. He then moved into the marine and offshore division, designing fire and gas detection systems for North Sea rigs and platforms, before moving to project manage the development and marketing of Thorn Securitys fire detection equipment. Following the acquisition by TYCO and a merger with ADT he took up the position of General Manager for the south west looking after the commercial side of both fire and security systems. In 2012 he took up his present position Director of Regulatory affairs RISK INSIGHT, STRATEGY AND CONTROL AUTHORITY Reducing insurable risk through research, advice and best practice Slide 3 UK Fire and Rescue Service Policy for the Management of Automatic Fire Alarms Martin Harvey Fire Industry Association Slide 4 General Comments Believed that around 10-20% of systems cause about 80-90% of the false alarms Annual cost in the UK estimated at in excess of 1B Excessive false alarms are covered under the Fire Safety Order Significant progress can be achieved by both the FRSs and end users along with their system installers and service providers Slide 5 UK Fires and False Alarms 1994-2009 Incidents continue to decrease Latest fire stat: 337,000 false alarms (from a peak of 507,000 1995 ) Good intent 93,100 -4% Due to apparatus 230,000 -5% Malicious 14,200 -13% Slide 6 Why Tackle False Alarms Unwanted fire signals put life at risk by diverting essential Fire and Rescue Services resource Unnecessary risk is caused to the crew and the public on unwanted call-outs Cost to businesses in releasing retained fire fighters and when activities are disrupted by evacuations and process shut-downs Loss of confidence in systems Substantial drain on public finances Slide 7 CFOA Protocol Signed September 2010 Followed on from 2008 Policy Not fully adopted Slide 8 The Major Deviators Slide 9 Warwickshire Slide 10 Concerns Although call challenge is expected to reduce false alarm vehicle mobilisations and increase available resources to fire prevention activities, the benefits are rapidly eroded due to increased property damage costs caused by delays introduced in attending real fires. A delay of one minute is estimated to increase property damage by about 20m per annum.Not responding until the fire is confirmed, results in a significant increase in property damage costs and life loss. Slide 11 A Missed Opportunity! What could have been According to the ACPO Systems Group in 2000 there were 936,620 remote security systems and in the same year the number of false alarms was 921,640 Whereas in 2010 there are 1,145,668 remote security systems but only 212,987 false alarms Slide 12 Its Different Here!!! Survey of 43 Different Fire and Rescue Services 29 Different response policy's to AFAs Slide 13 Commercial standard risk Commercial high risk Health care and residential care Residential individual dwellings Residential multiple occupants AuthorityDayNightDayNightDayNightDayNightDayNight Avon 3333111111 Bedfordshire 5555331111 Berkshire 6363223333 Buckinghamshire 1111111111 Cambridgeshire 2222222222 Central Scotland 1111111111 Cheshire 2211111111 Cornwall 3333333333 Cumbria 3232111111 Devon and Somerset 3333333333 Dorset 3333212121 East Sussex 3333333333 Essex 6633331111 1No call back or filtering, Full PDA, Blue lights 2No call back or filtering, Reduced PDA, Blue lights 3Call back or filtering, Full or Reduced PDA, Blue lights 4No call back or filtering, Investigation vehicle only, Blue Lights 5Call back or filtering, Reduced PDA, Normal road speeds 6No attendance for unconfirmed AFA Slide 14 As a Business owner where am I ? The RFS response in one county may be totally different to an adjacent county Do I now have to man my Business during the non response times? Slide 15 Have government solved the problem with the localism bill? Slide 16 If Charging Becomes the Norm Systems will be disconnected and life safety will be threatened And charges are passed to the ARCs then it is likely that they will disconnect the fire systems and pass no signals at all which would be a disaster for fire safety Then charges should be levied on the organisation employing the Responsible Person Slide 17 What Can be Done? Case studies and measures in hospitals during the Fire Brigade strike in 2002 show that false alarms can be substantially reduced at source The FIA is working with others to achieve progress but further stakeholder engagement is vital Third Party Certification recommendation is helpful but should be made compulsory within a defined timescale Uniform adherence to the Policy is needed as opposed to the highly disparate approaches which are apparent Slide 18 Working Together - Kings College, London 80 buildings over 8 mile radius in London with 5,000 staff and 25,000 students using around 400,000 m 2 of floor space Senior Fire Safety Officer working with service providers Drax and Honeywell Again, a case of identifying the problems and targeting the remedial actions 381 false alarms across sites in 2007 13% reduction in 2008 and further 10% in 2009 To date reductions continue Slide 19 Working Together Princess Yachts, Plymouth Luxury yacht builder operating from four factory sites in Plymouth area totalling over 94,000 m 2 floor area Princess Yachts Facilities Manager working with service provider Trinity Protection Systems Ltd False alarms identified in detail according to location and cause Remedial actions then targeted including system change- outs, detector head changes, system isolations and procedural reviews Double-knock functionality in key offending zone has reduced false alarms from average 2 per month to zero Slide 20 The Trade View Its only one or two false alarms a year that not a problem ! Any false alarm cost money,endangers lives and must be stamped out We need to help Businesses Service and Maintenance Technicians have an important role to play Businesses need to look at their procedures Education of the issues is still needed Slide 21 Training Slide 22 Scotland Leads the Way! Slide 23 Possible Way forwards Lack of data behind the statistics Proposal to develop an education package for both end users and Fire fighters to help identify the alarm Lack of information about the Alarms Look to introduce more intelligence prior to the alarm being passed on i.e. premises occupied /unoccupied,Verification Continue to work with CFOA and other stakeholders on resolving the fundamental problem.......... And not a policy for the management of unwanted alarms from Automatic Fire Alarms Systems Slide 24 What can you do? The FIA believes that insisting upon third party certificated products and contractors is a great start! Encourage a National approach by FRS to the Reduction of Unwanted Fire Signals Slide 25 Thank You!