Information about fire alarms

A fire alarm is required to warn people in your place of work that there is a fire. Not all Places of Work need to have a full electrical fire alarm system installed but all require some means for one person to notify others of a fire.

For the smallest places of work, a simple hand wound bell, air horn or a whistle would be adequate. It is very important that it can be heard throughout the building and that whoever is operating the fire warning is not at risk from fire.
For most other buildings, some form of fire alarm system would be needed and this can include automatic fire detection to provide a more comprehensive system.

A simple fire alarm system would comprise a fire alarm control panel,(with a power supply and backup battery), manual 'break glass' call points, alarm sounders or bells and possibly automatic fire detectors. Smoke detectors are recommended for the automatic fast detection of fire, allowing as much time as possible for staff and visitors at work to use the escape routes safely. A fire risk assessment carried out by a competent person would determine if a fire alarm and how many detectors are required.

Self-contained wireless interlinked smoke alarms can offer a simple and easy solution for many buildings where the expense of a full-scale fire alarm and detection system cannot be justified.
In some parts of the building, areas of a high ambient noise level, a flashing strobe might be needed because the alarm sounder/bell may not be heard.  Similarly, strobes/Xenon beacons are useful for compliance with disability discrimination law where deaf people might not clearly understand the alarm.

With larger systems, the building can be split into various 'zones'. This makes it easier to find where the fire alarm has been activated by divided the building into a number of areas. With advanced systems (known as 'Analogue Addressable' fire alarm systems), each device is identified separately, making it very easy to identify the exact location.

Wires can be used to connect the equipment together. However, Fire Systems Ltd specialise in wireless fire alarms or another term used is Radio fire alarms, this type of system uses radio signals rather than wires to connect the equipment. Although these are slightly more expensive, there are major advantages where routing cables could cause damage to buildings of historic significance, or damage to the decoration of a property or the general disruption to your business while the fire alarm is being installed.