Hope this helps, it got a little long. Feel free to contact me if
you have questions about our program or want more info.
As several other folks have stated, identifying what type of false
alarm you are targeting is critical if you want to compare your alarm
problems with other folks problems. At Cornell University we have
had a false fire alarm reduction program in place for over 5 years.
Since we have emergency responders from Environmental Health & Safety
on duty 24 hours a day and they respond to all alarms we're able to
gather very good statistics on the causes of our alarms. We
categorize false alarms as accidental (dust, insects, cooking smoke,
cigarette smoke, workmen, device struck accidentally, water in
device, steam, sprinkler water surge, etc.), malfunction (malfunction
of the alarm or sprinkler system caused the alarm), malicious
(pullbox activated maliciously, device struck by someone throwing
something (i.e. ball playing in the hallway), smoke/heat detector
maliciously removed or damaged, maliciously discharged dry chemical
extinguisher set off smoke detector, etc.) and undetermined
(separated into categories of: no device found activated, activated
device found but cause could not be determined and device found but
could not be accessed to removed it (i.e. too high)).
As part of our alarm reduction program, we analyzed our alarm
statistics and targeted residence halls and problem academic
buildings and replaced older 1970's and 1980's era smoke detectors
with new state of the art detectors (mostly FCI brand fire alarm
panels where we only had to replace the detector and base and did not
have to replace the fire alarm panel). This significantly reduced
the number of dust, insect and burnt food alarms. Our emergency
responders always replace activated smoke detectors with a clean
ones. Daily one of our Fire Protection Services staff reviews the
reports for repeat alarms from the same building or location to
identify facilities with detectors that need cleaning or places that
need to have the detection type or location modified.
We currently have about 250 fire alarm systems on the Cornell campus
and our largest cause of alarms is accidental alarms caused by
workmen (construction dust, smoke from cutting/soldering, devices
struck, drilling through wires/conduit, etc.). We've targeted that
problem by requiring the shops and contractors to schedule fire
protection shutdowns through our department but we continue to see
worker related alarms.
Our stats for the last fiscal year were 405 fire alarm activations
(both real and false) with 268 of them being accidental and 15 being
malicious. To put this in perspective, in the past 5 years we have
about 300 fewer alarms per year but have doubled the number of alarm
initiating devices (smoke and heat detectors, pullboxes, flow
switches, etc.) on campus. Everyone involved feels the program has
been a great success but it took a lot of work by EH&S to get it
going and to get buy in by the administrators outside of EH&S.
Having EH&S staff responding to all alarms has been critical to
making the program work. The data that the responders collect, their
ability to accurately locate the source and cause of the alarm and
their ability to immediately replace the device or fix the problem
have all been important in making our program work. From discussions
with folks at other institutions, they don't feel that responders who
are campus police or off campus fire departments are providing the
same level of service that we are providing and it hinders the
efforts to reduce the number of false alarms.
--
DANIEL MAAS (607)254-1634 FAX: (607)255-1642
Emergency Management Coordinator/Event Management Coordinator
Fire Protection & Emergency Services
Cornell University Environmental Health & Safety
EH&S Bldg, 201 Palm Road, Ithaca, NY 14850
email: [log in to unmask]
******************Disclaimer*************************
The comments and views expressed in this communication are
strictly my own and are not to be construed to officially represent
those of my peers, supervisors or Cornell University
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