November 2021
Protecting your employees, equipment and building will always be of concern to any business owner with a commercial property.
In the unfortunate situation of a fire occurring, it is possible that some of your building, if not all, will be damaged. The risk of damaging stock, equipment, and perhaps even injuries or fatalities is also present. These reasons alone highlight the need to act towards preventing fires from occurring. In this blog, we are going to explore the importance of a fire alarm system within a commercial property and how it might save you.
Detect Fires Early with Fire Alarm Systems
Of course, one of the main reasons you will want to install a fire alarm system is to detect fires early; this is possibly the biggest advantage that comes with installing a fire alarm system and can have a direct impact on the damage caused. An early signal will enable all of your staff, customers or other visitors to evacuate your building as safely and swiftly as possible, and often before a fire becomes fatal.
Quick Response Times with Fire Detectors
Business fire alarm systems can be linked to a Monitoring Centre, also known as an Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC). The purpose of this is to ensure that the fire can be dealt with as quickly as possible. For fire alarms that signal to an ARC, in most cases a confirmed fire is required before the local fire service will attend. No-one wants a firefighter turning up for a slice of burnt toast in the staff kitchen! In these cases, the building itself or designated keyholders are contacted first to gain information and to confirm if a fire is present. For commercial properties that deal with particularly flammable materials, a URN can be obtained for immediate Fire Brigade Response. The faster the response time, the less time the fire has to spread and threaten the wellbeing of your employees and your premises.
Fire Alarm Systems Can Help to Minimise Costs
Although the initial investment of installing a fire alarm system may appear to be quite substantial, the system could save you thousands later down the line. First, your system will detect fires early allowing your staff, customers or the emergency services to respond quicker - the faster a fire is dealt with the less damage it is likely to cause to both equipment and the building. Beyond this, a well-serviced and maintained fire alarm system could lower your insurance costs.
24/7 Protection
With a fire alarm system that signals to an ARC, your property will always be under a watchful eye. No matter whether your fire starts from faulty wiring at 2:00am or from a candle falling over at 11:00am, your property will always be monitored and the correct people will be contacted immediately to deal with the situation. With sophisticated alarms, services will even be alerted of where in the building the fire began or has spread to, meaning that spread is minimised even further.
Peace of Mind
With a fire alarm system installed, you can rest assured knowing that your commercial property and everyone within it are well protected at any time of the day. Just knowing that alerts are sent in the unfortunate event of a fire to minimise the damages can provide you with a wealth of reassurance.
Integration of Systems
Depending on your fire alarm system and property setup, your security and fire alarm systems can be integrated. For example, if you utilise a door access system, this can be linked to your fire alarm systems so that when the fire alarm triggers, all doors that require either a pin, card or fob to regularly open, will now open automatically. This will allow employees to leave as quickly as possible and increase safety. Likewise, properties with a monitored intruder alarm system can link both systems together so that the ARC knows the status of the fire alarm too.
At Lynx Fire & Security we offer fire alarm system installations all over Northamptonshire and the surrounding counties. We have an experienced team of Installation and Servicing Engineers that will always ensure that your fire alarm system operates optimally.
Although we currently only offer fire alarm systems on commercial properties, we are able to incorporate wireless smoke, heat and carbon monoxide detectors in domestic properties if they are connected to the intruder alarm system - We can advise if there are devices available to cover your current system.
If you would like to find out our commercial or domestic solutions, then please contact us today to speak to one of our friendly team who will be more than happy to assist you.
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