Servicing your fire alarm keeps your fire alarm in working order and also prevents the risk of false alarms. False alarms can lose businesses time and money, especially if the fire brigade charges for a call-out. In accordance with Fire Safety Law, Fire Alarms must be inspected and tested by a competent Fire Alarm servicing organisation over a 12-month period. Maintenance visits should be no more than six months apart (requiring a minimum of 2 x visits per annum)

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Types of fire alarm systems
There are two types of fire alarm systems, manual and automatic. Both types operate on the same principle, as heat or smoke detectors that are triggered manually or automatically.

• A manual fire alarm installation is a series of break glass units, which are installed at each point of exit in a building. This allows those escaping a fire to raise the alarm.

• An automatic fire alarm detects fire by monitoring environmental changes such as heat, smoke and carbon dioxide (depending on the type of fire). These changes in the environment automatically start the alarm.
   

Preventing false alarms
Most signals from automatic fire alarms are not actually fires. They test for smoke, heat and changes in the environment but that also means they pick up other elements such as steam, cigarette smoke and aerosol sprays.

False alarms are dangerous because fire crews should be at real emergencies, frequent false alarms result in staff to become complacent and is an unnecessary risk to the public.
 

How to reduce false alarms:

• Make sure the fire alarm is the right type for the building.

• Make sure the alarm system is properly and regularly maintained and in good working order.

• Investigate all false alarms and take appropriate action.

• Introduce a suitable filtering process – a means to safely investigate why the fire alarm went off. BEFORE calling for the fire brigade.