Automatic Fire Alarms
Many business premises have automatic fire alarms where the
fire brigade is called automatically via an alarm receiving
centre (ARC). Arrangements for handling these calls may be
affected during periods of industrial action. Wherever possible
a direct call should be made using the 999 system.
Given that all calls for assistance will have to be
prioritised during any dispute, unconfirmed calls, unless they
are in particularly high risk situations, are unlikely to
receive an immediate response from the military.
If your fire alarm system is connected to an Alarm Receiving
Centre,
you may not be able to rely on this automatic
signalling. It is essential, therefore, that all calls
for assistance are made using the 999 system wherever
possible.
If your fire alarm operates during the threatened industrial
action please react as follows:
- Immediately the fire alarm sounds, put into action your
normal evacuation routine.
- Unless it is obvious that there is a fire, investigate
the source of the alarm to establish if it is a fire or a
false alarm.
- If you are certain that there is no fire and no
suspicion of a fire then the building should be reoccupied.
Under these circumstances, do not call the fire brigade.
If, during the investigation, a fire is discovered or there
is a smell of burning or smoke that cannot be accounted for
then dial 999 and ask for the fire brigade.
- When your fire alarm signal is received by the Alarm
Receiving Centre (ARC), they may telephone you to establish
whether there is a fire or whether it was a false alarm.
Please provide the ARC with the necessary information even
if you have already dialled 999.
- As the ARC will pass fire calls to the fire brigade as
'unconfirmed' during the dispute, it will your
responsibility to ensure that there are staff on the
premises at all times to investigate any automatic fire
alarms that might occur.
- If the premises are not continuously occupied, ensure
that the ARC has up to date information on the keyholders
as they may attempt to contact them to investigate any fire
signal they receive.
- Continue to operate this procedure until the industrial
action comes to an end and you receive new guidance.
To prevent any unnecessary disruption, please ensure that
any known problems resulting in false fire alarms are corrected
so that there is a high degree of confidence that fire alarms
that do occur are genuine.
Further advice on false alarms is given in the
Fire
Industry Confederation Guidance on Contingency Planning for
Possible Fire Service Industrial Action.
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