How to reduce false fire alarms

False fire alarms are a prevalent issue for fire services up and down the country. To demonstrate how widespread the problem is, figures show the UK fire and rescue services were erroneously called out to more than 200,000 incidents in the last year. That is a lot of wasted time and resources. This article will look at the main culprits that cause false alarms and what can be done to reduce their occurrence. Firstly, why are false fire alarms a problem? False fire alarms are at best a waste of time and at worst, can lead to deadly complacency. If your…

Fire Safety for Landlords

As a landlord, you have a number of responsibilities to your tenants that are enforced by law. Anyone that has lived in rented accommodation will know the merits of having a landlord when the toilet decides it won’t flush anymore or the boiler decides it’s time for a rest, but landlords also have a lot of other responsibilities that are a little more subtle. Chief among these is their responsibility to ensure adequate fire safety is provided in the accommodation. This month, we’ll be looking at some of the key areas of fire safety landlords need to worry about when renting…

Fire Safety, Detection and Evacuation for the Elderly

Unfortunately, senses and mobility deteriorate slowly as people get older, making it increasingly difficult to do the things they found easygoing in their youth. Ultimately, this puts the elderly at greater risk of injury or worse if a fire started than the youthful. As such, it is of the utmost importance that we prepare our properties and businesses for the potential outbreak of fire adequately and thoroughly to ensure the elderly we care for remain in the safest hands at all times. In this article, we will be discussing the fire safety methods you should employ to increase the safety…

A Guide to Types of Fire Alarms

A fire alarm is the best way of ensuring you and your colleagues are alerted as soon as possible if a fire occurs within the commercial environment. Employers are legally obliged to protect the people who work within their premises from the threat of fire, and one of the best ways to do this is to have a fire detection system in place to alert all persons of the event of a fire outbreak. There should be at least one smoke detector fitted per floor, although for larger environments more alarms will be needed to ensure everyone within the premises is…

The History of Fire Alarms and Smoke Detectors

Fire alarms and smoke detectors are usually things that we take for granted. Most of us have these useful life-saving devices installed in our homes and places of work, and although we rely on them to work when we need them, few of us actually know much about fire alarms and smoke detectors. Here at Protect & Detect, we want to make sure all property owners are fully informed about the fire alarm systems in place so here is a little about their history to get you started. Fire Alarms In the old days, fire alarms were very low-tech. Members of…

How do smoke detectors work?

According to official government statistics, in 2012-2013 there were 22,500 fires recorded in commercial and industrial buildings, such as retail units and industrial manufacturing plants. 65% of deaths which occurred in non-dwelling building fires were caused by no smoke alarms being installed in the property. In this day and age, it is astonishing to believe that many commercial buildings do not have the correct measures in place in the event of a fire, leaving many lives at risk as a result. It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to have a fire alarm installed, preferably on every level of…