Causes, strategies and technologies to reduce the incidence of false alarms.
By Karla Elizabeth Ortega Porcayo*
A false alarm is a false activation of a fire detection and alarm system, i.e. it is NOT caused by fire.
Some examples named by fire consultant, Raman Chagger include:
• A fire-like phenomenon (for example, a smoke machine that activates a smoke detector)
• Accidental damage to the system
• Inappropriate human action (e.g. malicious manual activation of call points)
• Equipment malfunction
It is a pity that in Mexico there is no regulatory requirement to monitor fire alarms (false or true) to a plant, which would allow us to obtain a reliable quantification and be able to estimate their cost.
In countries like the United Kingdom, a false alarm causes estimated losses of 1 trillion pounds a year (about US $1.305 billion), in resources such as the fire department that are destined to attend to them. If we consider an exchange rate of 28 pesos per pound, we are talking about 28 trillion Mexican pesos. (This is 4.59 times the Expenditure Budget of the Federation 2020, that is... of all our public agencies together!).
In addition to the economic cost of lost productivity caused by a staff evacuation due to a false alarm, we have a psychological impact as it reduces the public's confidence in fire alarm systems.
Some of the causes of false alarms are as follows:
(a) Human carelessness.
b) Inadequate and out-of-standard design, installation and implementation.
c) Deficiencies in the programming of alarm detection panels.
d) Poor selection of the technology to be implemented.
In this sense, for example the advanced signal technology (ASATechnology) of Siemens intelligent smoke detectors, offers a guarantee of zero false alarms, for a period of 24 months, as long as the installation and programming are correct.
Advanced detectors are the best option for more demanding applications (data processing system, industry, shopping centers, kitchens, hospitals, among others) with deceptive phenomena to which an extremely fast response and the highest level of protection against false alarms are needed.
Some strategies to reduce the incidence of false alarms that we could adopt:
• Effective incident reporting
• Research and follow-up by suitably qualified personnel
• Control of contractors
• Training of employees on good use and good practices of fire systems.
• Planned and assertive responses from internal or responsible brigades.
Likewise, preventive measures (physical interventions) to avoid false alarms can be:
• Replace single-sensor detectors with multiple sensors
• Install approved and correctly spaced detectors
• Protective covers and adequate signage for manual fire stations.
• Use approved addressable panels
• Carry out a more rigorous maintenance of the system
Detectors with superior ASA detection technology truly replace the ionization detector. Its principle of operation is by scattering light backwards and forwards, using two thermal detectors and two optical detectors, and comparison with algorithms to distinguish between a fire event and a false alarm.
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The Cerberus FC901 50-point fire panel is a true defense strategy for large customers with small installations. It is UL864 listed and FM approved for fire, it is compact and easy to install with less incidence of false alarms.
To conclude, we need to have a paradigm shift to respect fire detection systems, have an emergency plan that allows us to mitigate and survive a fire situation and dedicate time to analyze the causes of false alarms to work with collaborators and manufacturers to take action since a safe Mexico we all do.
For the MAK team it is a pleasure to put on the table new technologies by the hand of great allies with robust equipment such as the Cerberus FC901 panel, so we invite you as an integrator to be part of a certification granted by Siemens, which will also include:
- Board FC901-U3
- Cabinet Fh901-U3
- Smoke detector OP921
- DB11 detector base
- MANUAL STATION HDMS-DE
- Audiovisual Alarm ZH-MC-R
* Eng. Karla Elizabeth Ortega Porcayo. Director of Operations of MAK Extinguisher of Mexico.
* You can write to the email [email protected] to receive pre-registration link to join this face-to-face event scheduled for the month of September of this 2020.
