The Fire Industry Association (FIA) has renewed the fervour behind its campaign to limit the number of false fire alarms, about which businesses have tended to be complacent.
In an article last week exploring the human and financial cost of false alarms, the FIA has set out some of the key reasons good fire alarm system maintenance and management is vital to ensuring that alarms are taken seriously.
The Cut False Alarm Costs campaign is aimed at educating firms on proper management of fire alarm and detection systems. False alarms cost UK fire services millions of pounds every year.
Cleveland Fire and Rescue service, for instance, responded to more than 28,000 false alarm incidents, costing taxpayers around GB pound 11 million. This at a time when Cleveland FRS is facing budget cuts of almost 30 percent over the next four years — cuts that would mean a shortfall of approximately GB pound 3.4 million over the next two years. Without those false alarm costs, this particular fire service would actually have a budget surplus.
In the article cited above, the FIA observed:
Cleveland FRS also underlined how its trading company, Cleveland Fire Brigade Risk Management Services CIC, which is a community interest company, was growing from strength to strength to supplement the service’s budget.
This may be a worry to recession-hit fire safety businesses in the Cleveland area and beyond, where fire services are now a new source of competition. There is apprehension in the fire industry that many will struggle to compete with risk management services offered by UK fire services.
Simon Ince of Warrington Certification Ltd. wrote on IFSEC Global about the unfair market advantage that a preferred supplier of fire risk management services, BRS, was receiving.
Fines for automatic fire alarms
Last year, the London Fire Brigade revealed that it was considering fining owners of automatic fire alarms in a move that would cost the worst offenders a total of over GB pound 1 million.
Under the plans, building owners would be fined at least GB pound 290 per responding fire engine for any false alarm.
Chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, James Cleverly, said:
A fire engine is called out to a false alarm from an automatic system every 12 minutes in London, which is an absurd waste of time, money and resources, especially in this time of financial uncertainty.
Firefighters ought to be available to attend genuine emergencies or carry out training or community fire safety work, rather than attending thousands of false alarms.
Often false alarms are caused by poor management or maintenance of alarm systems. Our proposals to charge should send a clear message that building owners need to sort their fire alarms out or face hefty charges.
Advice from fire and rescue services is clear on the matter of reducing false alarm incidents. Manchester FRS is among many that issue the following advice:
Download the Fire Safety in 2023 eBook, keeping you up to date with the biggest news and prosecution stories from around the industry. Chapters include important updates such as the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and an overview of the new British Standard for the digital management of fire safety information.
Plus, we explore the growing risks of lithium-ion battery fires and hear from experts in disability evacuation and social housing.
The cost of false fire alarms is becoming hideously scary. Most false alarms are caused by substandard systems. Responding to false alarm is not only disappointing to fire rescue services but also directly effects their efficiency. It is paramount to adjust the sensitivity of fire alarms which communicate actual outbreak of fire rather than pressnig the panic button. The precious resources are squandered in a futile exercise thus diluting the efforts to respond effectively to actual emergency situations. Its really disturbing to note that a fire engine is called out to a false alarm from automatic system every 12 minutes… Read more »
It is not only a substandard system but the original design of the system and not utilising the correct detection in the first place. Many people just install optic smoke detection but don’t know of all the other types/technologies out there that would reduce the false alarm count.
Those millions being wasted on false alarms could hugely benefit not only the fire service but the NHS, Social care, countless bodies. Its about time that large fines are being produced when business cannot maintain their own site.
False alarms are already charged to the places that they respond to! .. the fire brigade only get an automated call from a monitored site and this will be via an ARC. The current rate is £500 per appliance but can vary per brigade and I certainly know this is always levied on NHS sites which means you and me pay for this! Most false alarms are actually caused by user error i.e.; Burning food, toast, steam, hair spray and so on. Other false alarms are caused by design fault and having the wrong equipment in the wrong area! You… Read more »
I don’t know of many businesses that are fined for false alarms. If anything I wouldn’t want NHS being charged, seems silly charging something that is paid for in taxes.
I agree that it is rediculous to fine a hospital as they are all paid for from our taxes anyway! .. Although it is an inconvenience for the fire brigade, it is their job after all!
Seem they would rather be playing pool and lounging around than out doing their job! .. Each false alarm gives the fire brigade, maintenance firm and the end user a chance to re-evaluate the environment and even give some training!
Finbar either your a retired firefighter with a grudge, a misinformed member of the public or as its friday your looking for a bite. Anyway call round to your local fire station, I would put money on it that they are not playing pool/snooker or lounging about.
I think we need to be rational here. Why would a business spent money to have fire alarms which wont work or give false alarm.Do you know how much it costs the business for that wasted valuable time? No business wants to throw money away
The answer is not the fines but the education and training and awareness of how to keep our alarm systems effecient and to serve its intended purposes.
@Finbar…You are right that its their job to attend fire call. But we must understand one thing …if a resource is diverted on false alarm then it gets deficient to address the real emergency. A wrongly diverted fire tender would not be able to be able to extinguish that fire which might have put lots of lives in danger. What I conclude from this whole discussion is …that if we commit our available resources at the places where they are actually required then ..it would not only save lot many lives but also reduce the huge financial burden on our… Read more »
My last post was said with a hint of sarcasm for those that did not get it! But lets make no mistakes here, people are complaining about false alarms which are not always false, some are unwanted alarms! Either way I am pretty much sure that neither the end user nor the maintenance firm want any of either! It is the fire brigades job to turn up at any building for a ARC received fire alarm signal! You could probably bet your house on the fact that more “false alarms” are received via a phone in whether maliciously or miskatenly by… Read more »
Fun conversation this. So, we’re all agreed that fining the NHS by a fire authority is robbing Peter to pay Paul. But if you have another rule for public bodies, then they’ll be the only one who fail to learn the lesson, right? If you wanted to go really far, fine the nurse who was toasting under the smoke detector. I jest here to a degree, no one wants to see nurse’s fined, but I certainly think one rule for all. As for the problem of hoax calls, the last year of data available shows 312,400 false alarms in England… Read more »