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FireCell is the new standard!

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

The new generation of radio system

FireCell is a fully analogue addressable fire detection system with a set of features making it one most advanced fire detection systems available – all without the need for cable.

The standards changed in March 2011 and although the Firepoint 5000 remains in service for additions and temporary solutions, the new FireCell uses the new EN54 868 frequency which is required to comply with the incoming standards, what this means for the user is that the best selling radio solution in the UK has;

Highly developed in the UK and as a consequence has improved speed of operation and synchronisation of sounders
Comes as standard with wired loops with the control panel meaning that the system is now more flexible for the user
The system can now run a combination of wired and wireless devices all reporting back to a single control point
Improved range of sensors with addition of Apollo (The UK based industry leader in smoke and heat detection manufacturing) devices to the range
Retains the use of Alkaline batteries – which makes commercial sense not just for the price but the sheer availability for the customer providing choice and not tying the customer to limited providers
All manufactured in the UK, with the manufacturer supporting the radio surveys and with a massive 5 year product warranty

EN54 Compliance in one complete system

The systems incorporate industry standard sensors and each device is powered with an alkaline battery pack. The devices communicate with the controllers using secure, fully compliant, dual frequency signalling.

The system consists of the following components:

analogue addressable fire sensors are based on industry standard devices.

The sensors have no visible aerials and are low profile, aesthetically pleasing designs. Each device is powered by an alkaline battery pack.

Providing reliable fire detection solutions for most applications the comprehensive sensor range includes:

Smoke Heat and Multisensors

Optical smoke
Heat
Multi-Sensor, combining both smoke and heat
Combined Sensor with Base Sounder or Voice Sounder, available with either smoke, heat or multi-sensor heads
Combined Sensor with Base Sounder or Voice Sounder, available with either smoke, heat or multi-sensor heads and an LED strobe

Radio Connection Diagram

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The rules have changed – Essex Fire & Rescue service

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

Did you call?

From the 28th February 2011, Essex Fire and Rescue service will no longer be responding to un-confirmed automatic alarms from some premises.

What does this mean for sites with monitoring? Well as with all headlines its never just that simple, the rules have changed with regard to some properties however, for example; premises that have a sleeping risk then the ECFRS (Essex County Fire & Rescue Service) will be attending following an automatic signal.

The details of the changes are on the ECFRS’s website however for ease of information I have added an exctract below;

The following text has been taken directly from the ECFRS website.

The following information is provided to answer questions posed to the
Service following the decision not to attend certain types of premises when a
fire alarm actuates.

Under section 7 of The Fire Services Act 2004 a responsibility is placed on Fire Authorities to make provision for fire fighting and not to attend premises to ascertain if a fire exists. This duty lies with the person whom has responsibility for the premises.

The table below summarises responses to some recent questions that have been raised.

Business premises

Office, Shops, Factories

Sleeping risks (Hotels, Hospitals, Care etc) Schools etc

Question

Answer

When will the new procedure start?

28th February 2011

Will the Service respond to non confirmed fire signals from Alarm Receiving Centre’s (ARC’s)?

YES

If NO should we remove the ARC process?

No, the ARC should be directed to contact the key holder to attend the premises to confirm the situation

We will be attending confirmed fires at all times regardless of premises use, however as detailed in our letter dated November 2010 from 28th February we will only be attending premises as detailed above.

In commercial premises, 99.8% of actuations are false alarms. This meant that firefighting action was only required in 0.2% of the time (11 Calls) of which less that half required no more than a fire extinguisher to extinguish the fire.

We will not be attending actuations of Automatic Fire Alarm systems which are not supported by a phone call to confirm a Fire Service attendance is required (some Fire Alarm systems may be capable of carrying out this function, more details will be available shortly)

This may mean you need to review your management policies and procedures to ensure during normal working hours any actuation of the fire alarm is investigated and fire situation confirmed prior to the Fire Service being called.

For periods, out of normal business hours arrangements will need to be made for an employee / company representative to attend the premises to ascertain if a Fire Service attendance is required and place a 999 call (a safe system of work needs to be in place to ensure anybody attending e.g. local key holder can quickly and safely make the decision without undue risk to themselves, a specific risk assessment is recommended to be carried out).

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Landlord jailed for 30 months after young woman suffered severe burns

Monday, May 17th, 2010

11 May 2010

This is a news story taken from the FSE journal and is a chilling reminder of what can happen.

A landlord has been jailed for two and a half years after pleading guilty to a number of fire safety, health and safety and gas safety offences at Norwich Crown Court.

The court heard how a fire in one of his properties left a young woman so badly burned that doctors thought she was unlikely to survive. Layla Skalli suffered 80% deep tissue burns on almost all the skin below her neck.

The fire broke out on 14 April 2009 in Ms Skalli’s bedsit, part of three adjoining houses in multiple occupation above retail premises in Magdalen Street, Norwich. Miss Skalli was unable to escape because her sash window could only be opened by 4 inches and the staircase was blocked by thick black smoke. Firefighters used a ladder to smash the window and climb inside, where they found Miss Skalli unconscious on the floor with her hands covering her face – the only part of her not burnt by the intense heat.

Other tenants were either rescued by firefighters or had to climb down a drainpipe to escape.

The joint prosecution was brought by Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service and the Health and Safety Executive. The court heard how Mr Billings failed to provide a working fire alarm, an adequate number of fire doors, and adequate means of escape. In addition, gas appliances in the properties had not been serviced or properly inspected.

Mr Billings pleaded guilty to breaches of article 8 (duty to take general fire precautions), article 13 (firefighting and fire detection) and article 14 (emergency routes and exits) of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 for each of the three neighbouring properties, and was sentenced to 13 months’ imprisonment for these offences. The rest of the sentence was for offences under section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work Act etc 1974 and regulation 36(3)(a) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.

The HSE’s John Claxton said: “This is the most distressing case I have worked on during my 31 years as an HSE inspector. The injuries and pain suffered by Miss Skalli were horrific. It is testament to her huge character, spirit and determination that she is still alive today.

“Michael Billings failed in his basic duties as a landlord and those failures nearly cost the life of a young woman. As it is, Layla Skalli has been left with both physical and emotional scars that will never completely heal.”

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Fines for lack of Risk assessment

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Since the RRO (Regulatory Reform Order) Fire Safety 2005 came in to force there has be a very slow rise in prosecutions, although I have noticed that recently the Brigade have really started to exercise their powers.

Having spoken to a few fire officers when they were first starting to police the act, it was clear that they were feeling their way in their new roles, its worth pointing out that the date on the order was not the date that it actually came in to force as with all things of this nature there was a period of grace.

I have subscriptions to the fire industry blogs and news portals and I have noticed that more often there are are stories about various businesses being fined under the above act.

Today I have read about a Pub chain that was fined £15,000 for the lack of a fire risk assessment, I copied the details and the story is below;

Pub company fined £15,000 in fire safety prosecution
12 February 2010

A pub management company has been convicted of offences under fire safety law following a hearing at North Wiltshire Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

Publicana Ltd was fined £15,000 for the offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and was ordered to pay the prosecution’s costs.

The offences came to light after Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service attended an incident at the Little George pub in New Road, Chippenham on 5 October 2008.

After an investigation by officers, charges were brought against Publicana Ltd as the tenants at that time. The company was charged with failing to carry out or record a fire risk assessment, failure to have effective policies for protection and prevention measures, and the failure to provide suitable and sufficient information to the pub’s sub-contracted licensee.

The prosecution is pursuing separate charges against an individual in connection with the case.

“It is rare for a fire and rescue service to undertake prosecutions but, on this occasion, the offences were so severe we felt it was in the public interest to pursue charges,” said group manager Julian Parsons of Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service’s technical fire safety department. “What this case has shown very clearly is that management companies always have a duty to ensure that public safety is not compromised, even if they have sub-contracted someone to act as licensee.”

He added: “Since these offences came to light, the Little George pub has changed management and subsequent inspections have shown that the issues highlighted by this case have been addressed. In addition, Publicana Ltd, which was cooperative throughout the investigation, has introduced stringent new management procedures to ensure that something like this does not happen again in premises it is responsible for.”

For more information about this subject or any others on the site please call or email us.

Paul

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BS9999 fire safety of buildings

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Building Site on Fire

Statistically you are unlikely to be caught in a fire in your office, the people are awake (unless they are reading this post) and alert, other people in the building are generally aware of the fire safety requirements of the office environment. This new standard has been brought out by the British Standard’s Institute and replaces the BS5588 series of standards, parts of which had already been superseded by the BS5839 Part 8 (Voice Alarm Systems)

For the fire industry BS9999 provides a useful guidance to the process of fire risk assessments from various stages of the buildings existence, from new to refurbished.

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