According to Stuart Davies, of Hochiki Europe, treating a fire detection system as a ‘fit and forget’ part of a building’s infrastructure can have disastrous consequences. He explains the key part that regular maintenance of such systems plays in ensuring correct operation, and avoiding unwanted alarms.
If any were needed, the fire at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital in 2008 provided a salient reminder of the implications of such an event. Alongside the damage to a leading specialist cancer hospital, patients undergoing surgery had to be taken off their anaesthetics and ventilators, and over 900 staff and patients to be evacuated to neighbouring hospitals.
As a vital component of any life safety infrastructure, fire detection equipment needs to be kept in perfect working order. Failure to undertake adequate maintenance could lead to operational failure – either via the system simply not functioning, or through the equipment producing unwanted alarms.
Government figures suggest the cost of such alarms in the UK is around £1bn a year. A BBC investigation in 2010 clearly highlighted how much of a problem they can be when it found firefighters had been wrongly called out to Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital more than 170 times over a three-year period.
In the event of a fire alarm, a building must be evacuated. However in locations such as hospitals, hospices, clinics, and surgeries, where patients’ mobility may be restricted, mass evacuation can be a logistical nightmare, and is therefore an action of last resort.
It has been estimated that approximately 80 per cent of unwanted alarms are caused by 20 per cent of alarm users. The most common causes are activities undertaken by the occupier, incorrect product selection, misguided installation, or insufficient maintenance. Although product failures do occur, they only account for a tiny proportion – under 1% --of unwanted alarms.
Hochiki has developed intelligent technologies to reduce the likelihood of unwanted alarms. Its sophisticated single- and multi-sensor detectors use drift compensation algorithms to filter out temporary abnormal readings caused by contamination, which in the past would have triggered an alarm situation. In addition, Hochiki’s optical smoke sensors feature its ‘unique’ High Performance Chamber Technology, which minimises the differences in sensitivity experienced in flaming and smouldering fires. The result is a high performance optical chamber that is equally responsive to all smoke types, and helps reduce the possibility of unwanted alarms.
However, as contamination builds up in a unit, the physical removal of dust will eventually become necessary. Hochiki’s innovative designs make it possible to simply and quickly dismantle the detector, remove the chamber, and clean or replace it on site. Once the detector has been reassembled and put back in the system, it will automatically recalibrate itself.
Guidance on maintaining a system, and advice on reducing unwanted alarms, can be found in BS 5839 Part 1. It is also advisable to use installers accredited to LPS 1014 and BAFE SP203, which recognise competency in fire detection system design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance.
Hochiki Europe can offer a wide range of additional information and advice on maintenance issues. T: 01634 266569, or email: emarketing@hochikieurope.com.
