Fire Alarms
Who needs a Fire Alarm System?
Levels of Cover
Fire alarm systems are designed with one of two considerations at their core. Category L systems are designed for the protection of life, these are normally specified as the result of a fire risk assessment. Insurance companies may also have requirements for fire alarm systems, these are classed as Category P and are concerned with the protection of the property itself. These systems are usually monitored to ensure that an out-of-hours alarm is responded to efficiently.
Once this consideration has been taken care of, the level of cover to be provided must be determined. Below is an extract from the British Standard to help explain what these levels are and their individual requirements. Hopefully this will help with understanding what is required as well as enabling quotations to be checked for compliance.
Permission to reproduce extracts from BS:5266:Part 1:2016 ‘Fire detection and fire alarms for buildings’ is granted by BSI. British Standards can be obtained in PDF or hard copy formats from the BSI online shop: www.bsigroup.com/Shop or by contacting BSI Customer Services for hardcopies only: Tel: +44 (0)20 8996 9001, Email: cservices@bsigroup.com
British Standard 8.2
c) In Category L3 and L4 systems, smoke detectors, or a mixture of smoke and combustion gas detectors, should be provided in the following: All escape stairways; All corridors; Any other areas that form part of the common escape routes.
d) In Category L3 systems, heat, smoke, combustion gas or multi-sensor detectors should be installed in all rooms that open onto the escape routes described in c), except that rooms opening onto corridors of less than four metres in length need not be protected, provided fire resisting construction, including doors separate these corridors from any other section of the escape routes.
e) In a Category L2 system, the rooms or areas protected should comply with the recommendations in c) and d) for a Category L3 system, but, in addition, automatic fire detectors should be installed in rooms in which the fire risk is high enough to warrant individual protection.
f) In a Category L1 or P1 system, automatic fire detectors should be installed in all rooms and areas of the building, but the following rooms may not be protected if they are low fire risk: Toilets, shower rooms and bathrooms; stairway and toilet lobbies; small cupboards (typically, less than 1m²); some shallow voids (less than 800mm in depth)
What Type of System?
Many different aspects needs to considered when decided which fire alarm system would be most suitable. Everyone wants to make sure that they are compliant and that they have a fire alarm system that is user friendly. We only use fully compliant equipment and carefully select our systems with the end user in mind.
On top of these basic requirements, aspects such as cost, disruption and time to install also come into play. A new build project or industrial property will most likely still opt for a traditional hard wired system. Then depending on size will select between a conventional system or an analogue addressable system. Most occupied buildings should certainly give some consideration to the radio fire alarm system. With limited disruption, redecoration or time consuming cable runs the radio fire alarm allows virtual all building to carry on as normal.
More information has been provided on this site about each type of system but if you rather talk in person then we offer free site surveys and are always on hand to offer advice or discuss options. We will be honest with you about which option we think is best and why.
Radio Fire Alarms
Radio, or wireless fire alarm systems are exactly as described, everything is wireless except the console...
Specialist Equipment
This section covers aspirating or air sampling detectors which are high sensitivity smoke detectors...
Analogue Addressable
Analogue addressable systems are now widely used, even for small and medium sized premises...
Conventional/2 Wire
Conventional fire alarm systems are cost effective and perfect for small premises...