Quick answers
What is fire alarm monitoring?
Monitoring adds a communication path from the fire alarm to a constantly attended location or control room. That location receives and records signals, follows an agreed procedure and may notify building representatives and emergency communications.
What is the difference between alarm, supervisory and trouble signals?
A fire alarm signal demands emergency action. A supervisory signal reports an abnormal condition in another fire-protection system, and a trouble signal indicates a fault that may impair protection.
Should I wait for the monitoring company to call before leaving the building?
No. On a fire alarm, leave immediately by the nearest safe exit and do not wait for the monitoring provider to confirm. Call 112 from outside with the full address, floor or zone and known hazards.
Does a monitored fire alarm automatically call the fire brigade?
Not necessarily. Whether emergency-service notification is automatic, operator-mediated or dependent on verification depends on the approved design, provider contract and local authority, so ask the provider to document it.
Fire alarms are an important part of keeping people safe and preventing fires in any building. Fire alarms let people inside your building know if there are problems with the fire safety systems. If there is a fire, it will warn the people inside so they have time to get out safely. Fire alarm monitoring takes your alarm system one step further by telling the right people 24 hours a day, 7 days a week about a fire or other emergency.
How Does a Fire Alarm Monitoring System Work?
A monitoring device is put in place and connected to your fire alarm system in a monitored fire alarm system. When the alarm goes off, a signal is sent to a central station that keeps an eye on everything. Central monitoring stations have people who are very well trained who receive the signal and follow an agreed procedure, such as calling your chosen contacts and, where arranged, the fire service.
Fire Alarm System vs. Fire Alarm Monitoring
What’s the difference between fire alarms that are watched and ones that aren’t? A fire alarm system that is not watched tells people in a building that there is a fire so they can get out safely. When an alarm system isn’t being watched, it’s up to the people in the building to call 112 (or 101 for the fire service) so the fire brigade can be sent. Monitoring your fire alarm takes it to the next level by sending a signal to the central station right away. The monitoring centre then follows an agreed procedure. It may call your chosen contacts and, where the contract and local rules allow, alert the fire service. This is not automatic everywhere, so ask your provider to put the exact procedure in writing. People inside should still leave at once and call 112 from a safe place. If there is a problem with one of the connected fire safety or life safety systems, the central station will be notified by the fire alarm monitoring. This tells the people you choose about the problem.
Benefits of Monitored Fire Alarm Systems
Fire alarm monitoring systems protect your building 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They have many benefits, such as:
- Shortening the time it takes for emergency workers to get there.
- Responding faster to a fire can make people safer and reduce the damage to property.
- Emergencies will be taken care of at any time of day or night, even if your building is empty.
- Helps when nobody is on site to raise the alarm. People inside should still get out first and call 112 from a safe place.
- Problems with your connected life safety and fire protection systems will alert you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
What needs attention
- Monitoring extends awareness beyond an occupied reception desk and can report events when a building is empty
- It cannot compensate for poor detector coverage, an inaudible alarm, disabled circuits or failed communication paths
- Alarm, supervisory and trouble events should not share an ambiguous response procedure
- The building owner remains responsible for inspection, testing, maintenance, contact lists and impairment management
- Communication equipment needs supervised power and a tested path appropriate to the approved system
- False alarms and unplanned testing can waste response capacity, so tests must be coordinated with the monitoring provider
- The public 112 system is an emergency-response platform; a private monitoring provider is not automatically the same system
Controls that reduce risk
- Ask the provider to document exactly which signal types are transmitted and who receives each one
- Confirm whether emergency-service notification is automatic, operator-mediated or dependent on verification
- Test alarm, supervisory and trouble transmission under a controlled approved procedure
- Check primary and standby power for the panel and communicator
- Maintain at least two current responsible contacts and the complete site address and access details
- Train staff to read the panel display without delaying evacuation
- Coordinate planned tests and impairments with the provider, occupants and responsible authority
- Keep 112 visible and instruct occupants to report a real fire from outside
Common unsafe practices
- Writing that every monitored alarm directly and automatically calls the nearest fire station
- Calling police instead of the designated fire or unified emergency response service for a confirmed fire
- Silencing or resetting the panel before the initiating point and conditions are investigated
- Treating a trouble signal as harmless even when it indicates lost power, communication or a disabled circuit
- Changing telephone, internet, router or SIM service without retesting alarm transmission
- Letting monitoring contacts become outdated
- Testing detectors without first placing the account in the correct test status
- Remaining inside because a monitoring operator is expected to call someone
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