Redundancy in a monitoring center refers to a duplication of critical systems such that if any component of the monitoring infrastructure fails, there is a backup in place. There are three different levels of redundancy: cold, warm, and hot.
A fire watch is a temporary measure that involves having fire guards at a premises continuously monitoring a building or part of a building to identify and manage fire hazards. Fire guards possess an F-01 certificate of fitness for fire guard issued by the New York City Fire Department (FDNY). Monitoring a building includes detecting early signs of fire, raising an alarm in case of a fire, notifying the fire department, and performing other fire safety tasks as directed by the NYC Commissioner. A fire watch becomes necessary when the fire protection system is under any condition of impairment (such as a broken sprinkler system, standpipe/hose system, fire pump, fire protection water supplies, fire mains, fire alarm systems, etc.).
Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) are government organizations, offices, or individuals that have the power to enforce and interpret the requirements of a fire code and approve equipment, materials, installations or procedures. They are a critical aspect of ensuring the safety and effectiveness of fire systems and fire system monitoring. By working closely with the AHJ, installers and monitoring centers can demonstrate their commitment to maintaining a safe and reliable system for detecting and responding to fires.
Access Control | Video Surveillance | Fire Systems | Intrusion Alarms | Security Terms
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is a trusted resource known around the world for product safety and service certification. Since being founded in 1894, UL examines and tests devices, systems, and material to determine how their performance affects life, fire, casualty, hazards, and crime prevention.
Access Control | Video Surveillance | Fire Systems | Intrusion Alarms | Security Terms
Integration in security refers to the interactivity between different parts of a security system. Here are some examples of what you can accomplish with an integrated security system.
You’re going about your day when you receive a letter from the City of New York informing you that your business has an ECB violation. Though resolving ECB violations isn’t fun, it doesn’t have to be difficult.
Emergency Control Function Interfaces allow fire alarm systems to communicate with other critical building systems during a fire emergency to ensure the safe evacuation of occupants.
Remote annunciators are smaller panels that provide a fire system status and a limited set of functional switches (e.g., acknowledge a signal or silence an alarm).
This article provides an overview of different types of fire alarm notification devices, which alert the building occupants to evacuate the premises or relocate using both audible and visual alarms when the fire system detects a possible fire. The most common notification devices installed today are strobes, horn strobes, speakers and speaker strobes.
All commercial fire alarm systems are required to be monitored 24/7 by an outside monitoring center that is equipped to respond to and handle fire alarm events. But what should you look for when selecting a monitoring center (also referred to as a "Central Station") for your fire system? This article explains the important role that monitoring centers play and provides a primer on how to select a qualified monitoring center.
Supervisory switches are a group of initiating devices that are installed at different parts of the automatic fire sprinkler system and are monitored by the Fire Alarm Control Panel (FACP). Their job is to monitor the sprinkler system to ensure that it’s in proper working condition and to transmit a supervisory signal to the FACP when an issue is detected.
This article provides an overview of manual pull stations and waterflow switches, which are both fire alarm initiating devices. We'll explain what they are, how they work and where they are used. In commercial fire alarm systems, initiating devices play a critical role of detecting an active fire and dangerous level of carbon monoxide as well as monitoring the sprinkler system to ensure that it's in proper working condition.
