I have come across a fire alarm system in a reasonably large (18,500m2) food processing factory. The premises is divided into broadly a clean area (production) and a dirty area (distribution). They are maintained as completely separate units with their own MOE etc. Sadly, the two halves of the same single building have two different fire detection systems as the clean area was an extension to the existing building and installing a separate AFD system was apparently more cost effective.
The newer 'clean' AFD system is connected by an unreliable comms link to the existing AFD system and it keeps failing. Apparently its a software issue. When it fails out of hours, the two night staff (FM and Security) who sit in the older dirty area know nothing about the alarm in the clean area. No fault is registered and the panel in the older area stays quiet.
For nearly two years, the technicians have said they've fixed the fault and then it occurs again during an incident. Worryingly there have been 2 small fires and a third more significant fire where the link has failed in the last 18 months - luckily all during working hours, so although there was confusion and delays, at least they weren't missed.
I have asked for two new links to be installed between the system, which can be monitored and a fault warning given if they fail. The engineers are seeing if this is possible. If it isnt, what next? (short of ripping the whole system out and starting again). As an alternative, I was thinking of moving the panel in the clean area and located it next to the older one in the security/FM office?
I am not particularly technical, so any ideas?
