Aico Ltd - Flintshire sets new standards of fire safety for
tenants
Flintshire Council has taken an innovative approach
to meeting the Fire Risk Assessment recommended in
BS.5839 Part 6, utilising innovative smoke and heat
alarm technology from Aico Ltd.
"BS.5839 Part 6 clearly stresses the need for a fire
risk assessment when designing a smoke alarm system,"
says Council Spokesman Sean O'Donnell. "That means, for
example, if an individual tenant is elderly or infirm,
they may need a greater degree of protection than a
young, healthy individual. If they smoke, they may
present a greater fire risk. There are many variables
that need to be taken into consideration.
"To add to the complexity, tenants may change. One day,
a property may be occupied by a young couple and the
next by an elderly one, or a family with an infirm
child.
"Our dilemma was to install a system that met the needs
of tenants no matter who they were, or how vulnerable
they were. It would be hugely expensive to keep changing
systems as tenants changed. We wanted a cost-effective,
future-proof solution that gave our tenants truly
exceptional safety."
Flintshire's solution was to embark on a phased
programme of installation to LD2 standard, in excess of
the normal 'compromise'
coverage. In practice, in a typical house this would
mean installing four smoke and heat alarms - one optical
smoke alarm upstairs, one optical smoke alarm
downstairs, a third in the main living area and an
additional heat alarm in the kitchen.
Flintshire specified Ei160 optical smoke and heat alarms
from Aico for its properties, and interconnected them
using Aico's unique RadioLINK wireless interconnect
technology.
"As you can imagine, interconnecting four smoke and heat
alarms might have been a daunting, expensive and time
consuming task using hard wiring," says Sean O'Donnell.
"Aico's RadioLINK wireless technology made it possible
for us to link up the alarms quickly and
cost-effectively. Most importantly, it meant minimal
disruption for our tenants."
As the alarms in the property are wirelessly
interconnected with RadioLink, it will be particularly
easy to add any further alarms to the
system if standards or circumstances require, or to
interface with special equipment such as Aico's Deaf
Alarm technology.
Two phases have now been completed, covering over 240
properties. Phase Three is about to commence, during
which Flintshire will take advantage of Aico's new RC
technology to add a measure of control over the system
and to improve safety even further.
"We know that reaching a smoke or heat alarm to hush it
or to perform a test is not easy for many tenants," Sean
O'Donnell points out. "Aico has recently added a really
useful new feature to its RadioLINK system which allows
for its Ei411H remote Test, Hush and Locate switch to be
wirelessly interconnected to the system. We can mount
this in a place where tenants can easily and safely
reach it. Of course, this will have the added safety
benefit of encouraging tenants to test their systems
more often!
"We believe that nothing is more important than tenant
safety. By adopting this truly extensive level of
protection, we believe we're
leading the field and helping to establish 'Best
Practice' in meeting the varying fire safety
requirements of our tenants. We also believe that it's
cost effective because we have eliminated the need for
individual risk assessments and re-installations in
properties where
tenant safety needs change."
Email:
Julie@publicityoverload.co.uk
Arundel Jones Associates Ltd
Hill Farm, Linton Hill, Maidstone, Kent ME17 4AL
Tel : 01622 745333
news@buildingdesign.co.uk
Registered in England and Wales No. 07334149
News Categories : Smoke alarm installation heat
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