1. RISK INSIGHT, STRATEGY AND CONTROL AUTHORITY
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 Security’s 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

2. Martin Harvey Fire Industry Association
UK Fire and Rescue Service Policy for the Management of Automatic Fire Alarms
Martin Harvey
Fire Industry Association

3. 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

4. UK Fires and False Alarms 1994-2009
Incidents continue to decrease
Latest fire stat:
337,000 false alarms (from a peak of 507, )
Good intent 93, %
Due to apparatus 230,000 -5%
Malicious 14, %

5. 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

6. CFOA Protocol ‘Signed’ September 2010 Followed on from 2008 Policy
Not fully adopted

7. The Major Deviators

8. Warwickshire

9. 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.

10. 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

11. Its Different Here!!! Survey of 43 Different Fire and Rescue Services
29 Different response policy's to AFAs

12. Commercial standard risk Commercial high risk
Commercial standard risk
Commercial high risk
Health care and residential care
Residential individual dwellings
Residential multiple occupants
Authority
Day
Night
Avon 3 1
Bedfordshire 5
Berkshire 6 2
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Central Scotland
Cheshire
Cornwall
Cumbria
Devon and Somerset
Dorset
East Sussex
Essex 1
No call back or filtering, Full PDA, Blue lights 2
No call back or filtering, Reduced PDA, Blue lights 3
Call back or filtering, Full or Reduced PDA, Blue lights 4
No call back or filtering, Investigation vehicle only, Blue Lights 5
Call back or filtering, Reduced PDA, Normal road speeds 6
No attendance for unconfirmed AFA

13. 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?

14. Have government solved the problem with the localism bill?

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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 m2 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

18. Working Together – Princess Yachts, Plymouth
Luxury yacht builder operating from four factory sites in Plymouth area totalling over 94,000 m2 floor area
Princess Yacht’s 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

19. 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

20. Training

21. Scotland Leads the Way!

22. 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

23. 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

24. Thank You!