Posted By Simon Davies
Hi all
Looking for a bit of advice re: school/college;

1. Malicious setting off of the fire evacuation alarms by students
2. Subsequent blasé response due to the high number of spurious alarms

Any ideas on how to combat point one which should help improve point two – CCTV isn’t an option.

Thanks

Posted By shaun mckeever
Have you tried the manual call points where a flap has to be lifted before the glass can be broken. These flaps can be designed to sound a local alarm which draws attention to the person sounding the alarm before. I am aware that a manufacturer is developing a method where the person who lifts the flap will receive a small spray on their hand which shows up under ultra violet light. It is a way of catching the culprit. I'm not sure where the company is with the development.

An alternative is to put the operation of manual call points onto a system where operation of the the first call point does not sound a full alarm but alerts at the main office. This allows for a member of staff to investigate without the culprit being aware that someone is on their way. It also saves on unneccesary evacuations. The operation of a second device e.g. detector or another call point will trigger a full evacuation.

This option needs to be looked at very carefully before going ahead. I have put it very simply but in reality it is not quite so simple because it is not in line with normally accepted procedures. It is a method I have developed for student sleeping accommodation and may not be suitable for your circumstances.