Disruption to education is a significant problem for schools across the UK but when Beardwood School, Blackburn, was experiencing major disruptions from children setting off fire alarms during school time it decided to take action.
Following a recommendation, the school contacted Simon Wilkinson, commercial director of Delta Fire & Security Protection, who suggested an integrated CCTV solution, supplied by Norbain, which could be introduced in phases. To tackle the immediate fire alarm problem Delta installed 35 Vista VFD13C/HR colour, vandal resistant cameras. The cameras are predominantly positioned in the corridors to cover the school’s fire alarms whilst also monitoring the central corridor areas, entrance and exit doors and the fire escape routes.
An independent Cat 5 network was installed during the summer holidays specifically for the use of the CCTV system, transmitting both video and audio to the dedicated server housed at the School’s Facilities Management office, with a secondary control PC at the school’s reception.
“We obviously have to abide by strict schedules when working in schools,” said Wilkinson, project manager. “We had half daily updates on which areas we could and couldn’t work in, so we had to be ready to move at any time.”
Designed for IP
At the front end is Bosch Security Systems’ Vidos Video Management System, specifically designed for IP-based CCTV surveillance installations, and next-generation network video recorders.
Vidos NVR provides a long-term storage and retrieval solution for video and audio as part of a Bosch Video IP installation. Comprising three key components: management software, a server platform, and RAID 5 storage, Vidos-NVR scales to handle an unlimited number of cameras and users.
The next phase of the project saw the installation of six additional internal Vista cameras and seven external Bosch EnviroDome cameras.
Presets are provided by external Redwall movement detectors and are backed up with external speakers for future expansion of the system to off-site transmission to a remote CCTV monitoring station.
Same-person service
As part of their standard policy Delta assigns a project manager to each of their installations. This ensures that at each stage of the process, from initial design right through to post-installation support, the customer deals with the same person.
“The customer can call at any time for advice and we develop a strong working relationship with them that definitely helps to enhance the value of the project,” said Wilkinson.
The installation has made a substantial difference to the school, said Kevin Glover, premises manager for the school.
“Students setting off the fire alarms was a persistent problem for us. With up to six per day it was a serious issue and causing major disruption. Every fire alarm, false alarm or not, has to be taken seriously and every evacuation is a disruption to the children’s education so we had to address it.
“We know that CCTV cameras are not a panacea and we do not wish to take a big brother approach but the security system has been very effective and since its introduction we have not have any fire alarms triggered by misbehaving students, we’ve seen a marked reduction in crime and an improvement in behaviour.”
The security system at Beardwood has been such a success that the school won the coveted Education Business Award for School Security. The award ceremony was held in London in November and representatives from Delta and Beardwood were there to accept the award.
Visit www.deltafsp.com for more information.
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