Wireless fire detection system protects residents in 1960s built care home

The Situation
Our client was a national philanthropic trust who owned a non-warden residential care home comprising about 40 rooms. The trust wanted to bring building up to current standards in terms of fire detection. This meant ensuring each room was fitted with smoke detection devices that could be monitored by one central system. Upon surveying the 1960s premises we found that the ceilings where the smoke detectors needed to be located had low levels of asbestos within them. Under current health and safety regulations this meant that a traditional cabled fire detection system posed a problem. The drilling needed to fix the necessary cabling could disturb the asbestos and result in its dust entering the premises.

The Solution
We recommended a wireless fire detection system and sourced a special fixative that complied with health and safety regulations to ensure the base of each smoke detector was safely secured to each ceiling. Whilst the base of the detectors was secure, the heads were removable and therefore able to receive routine checking, maintenance and battery replacement. The wireless system we installed also alerted our client when battery life was low in a detector. This enabled replacements to be made before a battery had run out and at no time was any area of the home unprotected.

The Results
Despite its structure and method of construction, our client’s premises could be equipped with fire detection systems that met the latest regulations. They were particularly pleased that the system gave each resident’s room protection but could be monitored and managed centrally. The latest wireless technology we were able to recommend meant that the building’s structure needn’t pose a health and safety threat to the systems installation.