Fire Alarms
Did You Know That 65% of Fires Start When Nobody is Present?
Keep you, your staff and your property protected at all times with Vedhas's complete range of fire alarm service, installation and repair electrics.
Smoke and Fire Protection For Business
Many of us take fire detection systems for granted, and yet it is a matter a life of death. We can provide the best fire protection for your staff and premises, as a fire can cause catastrophic damages and ultimately huge loss of earnings for businesses.
We design, install, maintain and service all types of fire detection systems, with custom maintenance plans to meet requirements and company financial budgets.
Smoke and Fire Protection for Homeowners
Many homes have smoke detectors, but just how many actually work? We can design, install, maintain and service your fire alarms, including maintenance plans which allow us to maintain your smoke and heat detectors. We also provide a service to our clients which allows them to carry out basic test which improves their safety at no added cost.
WHAT IS THE RR(FS)O?
Fire authorities no longer issue fire certificates and those previously in force will have no legal status. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RR(FS)O) replaces most fire safety legislation with one new order. It means that any person who has some level of control in premises must take steps to reduce the risk from fire, consider how to contain a fire should one break out and then also make sure people can safely escape if there is a fire.
WHERE DOES THE ORDER APPLY?
The order applies to virtually all premises and covers nearly every type of building, structure and open space. For example, it applies to:
- Offices & Shops
- Factories & Warehouses
- Sleeping accommodation
- Health care premises
- Residential Care premises
- Educational premises
- Places of assembly
- Transport premises & facilities
- Theatres & cinemas
- Outdoor event locations
The order applies to all buildings apart from private homes or individual flats. The Government intends to provide a series of guidance documents which can be downloaded free of charge from www.communities.gov.uk.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MEETING THE ORDER?
Under the order, anyone who has control of premises or anyone who has a degree of control over certain areas or systems may be a ‘responsible person’, for example, it could be:
- The employer, for those parts of premises staff may have access to
- The managing agent or owner for shared parts of premises or shared fire safety equipment such as fire detection systems or sprinklers
- The occupier, such as self-employed people or voluntary organisations if they have any control
- Any other person who has some control over a part of the premises
- The responsible person must officially designated
WHAT DOES THE RESPONSIBLE PERSON HAVE TO DO?
The responsible person is responsible for the safety of the employees and relevant persons by effectively managing:
- Fire risk assessment
- Fire safety policy
- Fire procedures
- Fire drills
- Means of escape
- Emergency lighting
- Fire alarms and extinguishers
- Fire doors & compartments
- Fire evacuations
- Signs & notices
- Maintenance is carried out
WHAT CONSTITUTES A FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT?
- Identifying fire hazards such as sources of ignition, fuel or oxygen
- Identifying all people at risk in and around the premises
- Evaluating the risk of a fire starting or the risk to people from a fire
- Removing or reducing fire hazards or risks to people from a fire
- Protecting people by providing fire precautions
- Recording any major findings and actions
- Preparing an emergency plan
- Informing and instructing any relevant people
- Providing training for staff and guests
- Reviewing the fire risk assessment regularly and make changes where necessary
- Keeping accurate fire risk assessment records
- Maintenance is recorded
WHAT RECORDS MUST I KEEP?
The responsible person must keep records on risk assessments, the current fire safety policy, procedures, training and drills. The routine maintenance of all fire alarm systems and emergency lighting and extinguishers must also be recorded.
WHAT TRAINING MUST I PROVIDE?
All employees must be given fire safety training when they commence employment and refreshers as is necessary – this would include the use of extinguishers. All people in your building must be considered as much as employees, visitors, members of the public - even trespassers!
HOW DO I MEET THE ORDER?
The order states that if you are the responsible person, you must make sure you carry out a fire-risk assessment although you can pass this task to a ‘competent person’. How do I determine that a person is competent?
A specialist fire and safety consultant from a reputable company such as Channel Safety Systems would be defined as competent via industry fire standards, or by undertaking specialist training.
Building Service Protocols
With the development of more and more products that need to communicate with each other, in particular products used for building services in sophisticated modern buildings, the need has arisen for protocols to be agreed across a whole range of manufacturers or even entire industries. For instance, the electrical trade has systems for switching large numbers of current consuming devices, such as lights, by using simple loop wiring and a protocol, rather than miles and miles of cables for individual circuits. Examples of such protocols are LonWorks and EIB.
Because such protocols are available for any manufacturer to use, they are often referred to as ‘open’. The fire detection industry does not currently use such protocols and the term ‘open’ has come to mean something different in this particular industry.
Fire industry protocols
In the fire detection industry analogue addressable systems use control panels and detectors (and, of course, devices such as interfaces) which communicate with each other by means of a protocol. There are three options to choose from:
CLOSED PROTOCOLS
Manufacturers of equipment using closed protocols claim that all elements of their equipment (detectors, panels, call points, interfaces, special detectors such as beam detectors) will work harmoniously with each other, since it is all designed and made by the same company. The implication is that a system comprising detectors and interfaces from one manufacturer cannot be maintained by another fire alarm service company. This is the least flexible option which can also be commercially exploited by a manufacturer.
MANAGED PROTOCOLS
Manufacturers of equipment that all elements of their equipment work harmoniously together, but the equipment can be maintained by another fire alarm service company.
OPEN PROTOCOLS
The manufacturers of the components of a system with an open protocol would reply that such systems can be maintained by any suitable fire alarm service company
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Service Engineers were very smart,
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" Great Service! "
Vedhas attended my property within only a few hours of making a call to them and had my electrics up and running in no time. I would highly recommend them, especially if you need an electrician, plumber or boiler repair engineer.
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