Alertacall - Moving on from hard-wired alarm and warden call systems

The limitations of hard-wiredalarmandwarden call systems Many systems are coming to the end of their life simply because of their age and therefore routinely develop faults. Furthermore, changes that are planned to take place to the telecoms infrastructure in the next 10 years are likely to affect their reliability or functionality, and maintenance leading up to these changes may result in “throwaway costs”. The limitations of hard-wired alarm and warden call systems include issues associated with how they were always intended to be used, their ability to meet the challenges of today, and the functionality they offer compared with superior alternatives now available. Inability to operate as intended: • Pull-cords are often cut off or tied up by residents. • False alarms are often generated on pull cords when pulled by accident (especially when children and others visit). • In an emergency many residents cannot or do not use them. They may be immobile and unable to reach the alarm or simply “do not want to be a burden”. • Systems that are connected to some kind of worn device such as a pendant alarm may not help if the person is unconscious or disorientated. However, by far the biggest issue here, is that most people do not wear a pendant alarm all the time. Indeed, a significant proportion who possess these alarms do not wear them at all. Consequently, for housing officers, relatives and so on, this is providing false reassurance. • Monitoring centres deal with large numbers of false alarms from smoke detectors connected to hard- wired alarm and warden call systems, often associated with cooking. Because of the sheer number of them these are frequently not followed up, if a call is made to check with the resident and there has been no reply. These monitoring centres are also often optimised to deal with personal alarm style calls not smoke alarm events. • Alarms testing is relatively infrequent and not always 100% comprehensive. Alternative approaches do exist that can self-test 365 days a year. • The messaging capabilities of hard-wired alarm and warden call systems are non-existent or very basic due to the way the systems have been developed. Only a very limited number of inbound or outbound messages can be sent or received at any one time to residents with hard-wired systems, if any at all. • Many hard-wired alarm and warden call systems communicate to the “outside world” with a single telephone line, which if faulty can render an entire site or building non-functional for long periods, endangering residents and the service model. Moving on from hard-wired alarm and warden call systems 4 www.alertacall.com