Thanks Messy. I think this is more of an issue with conventional panels rather than addressable ones and may not affect all manufacturers products. I encountered it in a care home when following a breakdown a new CTec panel was installed in a hurry after the old panel failed. When demonstrating the new panel to staff during a fire drill I noticed that on pressing the silence button no buzzer sounded but the fire and zone LEDs just changed to a flashing mode rather than continuous. In this particular case the panel was poorly sited at the best of times in a small lobby off the main entrance,off the staffs normal route. Normal staff procedure at night is to silence the alarm to minimise disruption whilst the alarm is investigated, leaving a staff member at the panel in radio contact with the investigation team. However if they become distracted by wandering service users etc or leave the panel for any reason without a full reset - maybe to confirm there is no fire, there is an increased risk the silence mode may be overlooked.
When I queried it with the alarm engineers they like me assumed the panel was faulty and referred it to the manufacturers who investigated and their technical department seemed unaware and took several days of testing to confirm that this was not a fault but a design issue based on EN54. EN54 does not explicitly require an audible warning so the designers have not included one.
The technical officer at the FIA told me that this issue has been well discussed and everybody is aware of it, and no further action is necessary. My experience of manufacturers, engineers, some very senior and experienced consultants and care home staff proves the opposite. Even the manufacturers technical department were not initially aware when it was reported to them as a fault so how can we hope this very significant change will be passed onto end users?
Whilst current guidance for care homes recommends addressable systems be installed, the likelihood is that an old faulty conventional panel will be replaced with the same to minimise downtime and disruption.
The issue needs to be raised throughout the industry so that engineers can brief end users of this significant change on replacement of panels where this is an issue. The FIA could help by surveying manufacturers to ascertain how many products are affected and updating their publicity and training courses accordingly. I could produce a short case history with photos if this would help.