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| CST's system for retailers saves lives, money
& keeps customers happy. |
 CST AlarmAlert: Stopping False Fire Alarms
False fire alarms cost the retail industry tens of thousands of pounds every year – evacuating a store means loss of revenue and loss of customers. If it happens too often, walk-aways can quickly become stay-aways. For food retailers the problem is worse, as each evacuation generates enormous wastage, with many products abandoned in trolleys having to be thrown away.
Now Call-Systems Technology (CST), the leading specialist in on-site wireless communications, has developed AlarmAlert, a system that, in trials, reduced false alarms by 90%. AlarmAlert uses a groundbreaking combination of communications technology and good old common sense. Best of all, it is inexpensive and easy to install.
The first step is to train selected members of staff as two-man fire investigation teams. When the alarm sounds, CST's specially developed pager system intercepts the data and instantly alerts the team, telling them the precise location of the alarm.
One of the team goes to the source of the warning alarm (indicated via the alphanumeric pagers) while the other stands by at the alarm's main control panel. They have three
minutes to determine whether the alarm is false or not – after that, the alarm automatically alerts the fire service. But if the fire investigation team member reaches the sounding alarm and recognises it as a false alarm or fault, that person instantly contacts the other half of the team, who can stand down the alarm, cancelling the call to the fire service.
Customers never need know that the alarm occurred.
AlarmAlert is the initiative of Alan Beecham, a senior officer with the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and the Service's Fire Alarm Coordinator. Alan wanted to find a way that public buildings could be certain that, when the alarm was sounded, it was a true emergency and not a false alarm.
The system was introduced into 10 retail stores in partnership with the Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service and the retailer. During the initial 6-week trial, false alarms dropped by 90% and Alan Beecham describes the results as 'fantastic'. "The beauty of this system is that it adds to public safety because it delivers an instant response to a fire alarm. The fire service will aim for arrival to an alarm within ten minutes, but with this system there is a trained fire team investigating instantly."
Peter Hutchinson, managing director of Call-Systems Technology, believes AlarmAlert is a major advance in public safety: "The system is helping to beat false fire alarms, which are a nationwide problem that costs retailers thousands of pounds every year. More important, the systems can also help save lives: while a fire engine is racing to a false alarm, it can't be scrambled to attend a real emergency.
"As long as the fire alarms fitted in retail outlets are able to interface with our communication system and identify which alarm or device was originally triggered, this technology can work in any site. This is a public service safety breakthrough we are proud to be involved with."
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Call-Systems Technology Ltd, Middlesex House, 29-45 High Street, Edgware, Middlesex HA8 7UU |
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