Responsibility For Limitation of False Alarms

Extract from BS5839 pt.1 from 2002

False alarms cause disruption to the normal operation of business and create a drain on fire service resources. False alarms can even seriously prejudice the safety of occupants, who might not react correctly when the system responds to a real fire if they have recently experienced a number of false alarms. Since the publication of the previous edition of Bs5839, false alarms generated by fire alarm systems have continued to increase steadily in number. In 1999, fire services in the United Kingdom attended over 250,000 such false alarms. This level of false alarms is no longer regarded as acceptable by central government, fire services or the committee responsible for this Part of BS 5839. Accordingly, in this Part of BS 5839, significant importance is attached to the limitation of false alarms from the fire alarm system.

Responsibility for limitation of false alarms rests with every party involved in the specification, design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of the fire alarm system.

The major part of this responsibility rests with the designer, but it is important that enforcing authorities and insurers have a good knowledge of the guidance contained in this section, so that requirements for forms of automatic fire detection, which, realistically, are unsuitable for the conditions in the building, are not imposed. The role of the installer is simply to install the system in accordance with the requirements of the designer. However, where, during installation, an installer identifies conditions in the building (e.g.environmental conditions) that might result in an unacceptable rate of false alarms, the designer, purchaser or user should be informed, so that the need for modification of the design can be considered. Any installer purporting to have specialist capability in installation of fire alarm systems should have a good understanding of the guidance contained in this Section.

At commissioning, a special check should be carried out to ensure that there is no obvious potential for the system to generate an unacceptable rate of false alarms. Where there is cause for concern regarding possible potential for false alarms that is not definite enough to warrant action at commissioning, this should be recorded so that particular attention can be given to the matter in examining the false alarm record at the time of the first (and, if necessary, subsequent) service visits. Any party responsible for accepting a fire alarm system should ensure that they are satisfied that the ultimate user is aware of the need, and means, for limiting false alarms. Verification of compliance with this standard includes verification that suitable steps have been taken by all parties to ensure that false alarms can be limited as far as reasonably practicable.

Once a compliant system has been handed over to the user, it is incumbent on the user to ensure that the system and the building itself are suitably managed to avoid unnecessary false alarms. Where an unacceptably high rate of false alarms does occur, it is the responsibility of the user to ensure that appropriate steps are taken to reduce the rate at which they occur. It is also the responsibility of the servicing organization to consider the recorded false alarm experience on each occasion that the system is serviced, so that unacceptable rates of false alarms can be identified and that appropriate advice can be given to the user. Systems in which the parties responsible have not taken adequate care to limit false alarms, and systems that produce unacceptably high rates of false alarms, should be regarded as non-compliant with this Part of BS 5839.