Fire safety and opts reviewed
Carrick Housing Ltd, owned by Cornwall Council, has announced its decision to install Aico's RadioLINK Professional wireless interconnect system and Ei166RC
Optical smoke alarms into its properties as part of a major review of its fire control measures in light of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order.
As part of the improvement programme, Carrick Housing has decided to add a second fire detector to family homes and other appropriate properties, such as bungalows with long hallways, as well as upgrading detection in its smaller blocks of flats that don't have a full hard wired detection system. The aim is to upgrade each property / block in line with the guidance set down in the LACORS Housing fire safety document.
Simon Waters, Asset Manager with Carrick Housing, explains his decision to use Aico alarms and the RadioLINK Professional wireless interconnect system: "The majority of our individual properties already have Aico smoke alarms fitted so we wanted to standardise and retain existing equipment where possible. It also allows us to upgrade to an interlinked system, in many cases, by simply adding a radio base [Ei168RC] to an existing detector and adding additional radio linked detectors."
Aico's RadioLINK Professional system works by allowing mains powered smoke and heat alarms to be wirelessly interconnected. If one alarm on the system is triggered, RF signals are used to cause every other alarm in the property to sound. This ensures everyone gets the earliest possible fire warning, wherever they are in the house, giving them invaluable time to escape.
In addition to the immediate safety benefits, Simon explains the other advantages of using RadioLINK Professional: "We went for the RadioLINK system for a number of reasons:- ease / speed of installation; minimisation of disruption to tenants homes / decorations; the flexibility in programming the detectors to select which other detectors to link to (particularly useful in small blocks of flats where communal parts need detection as well as each flat, but not necessarily all interlinked) and also ease of adding other facilities such as the deaf person alarm which can be added as a simple retrofit, where / when required under our disabled adaptations procedures."
Simon expands further on the use of the Aico Ei170RF Alarm for the Hard of Hearing: "As a landlord we have a responsibility to provide appropriate facilities for all our tenants including those with special needs. The flexibility of the RadioLINK system and equipment available, allows us to simply cater for these needs as and when they arise, as a retrofit to the standard fire detection equipment already fitted. This is also cost effective, as the equipment is portable and not hard wired to the detection system, we can move it to other properties as required when tenants vacate."
Carrick Housing has reviewed its fire risk assessments and a high proportion of its 3,700 properties will require some form of upgrade using Aico alarms. The programme of upgrading fire detection equipment in individual properties is only one element of this overall work programme. Other programmes include the installation of fire sprinklers and disabled access / egress equipment to larger blocks of flats, providing / upgrading emergency lighting and installing / upgrading centralised, hard wired detection systems.
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