False fire alarm signals are a significant drain on resources, with the financial impact on the UK economy estimated to be over £1 billion every year, a figure that includes lost productivity and the cost of emergency service response, according to industry analysis. No wonder then, that these unwanted false alarms are a major concern for both businesses and the Fire & Rescue Services. In the last year, Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) in England attended over 251,000 fire false alarms, marking the highest total since 2011 and accounting for a significant 42% of all incidents attended. This troubling trend underscores the growing importance of taking proactive steps to minimise false alarms across all business sectors.
So, what causes false alarms and how can we minimise them?
Manual break glass call points are often activated maliciously or through mischievousness. Rarely are false alarms raised through faulty call points. The good news is that malicious false alarms have been on a slight downward trend, yet they still accounted for over 5,800 incidents attended by FRSs in England. You can take steps to attempt to minimise activations such as:
It may be an option to install manual call points which only authorised people can access. However, this is subject to a comprehensive fire risk assessment, the nature of your business and layout of the premises.
Accidents can regularly cause activations. For example, if the call point is in a place where it’s prone to being hit by delivery cages, as is often the case in the logistics or retail environment, then it may be an option to fit call point covers or to reposition the call point in a better location. Protective covers are also recommended as part of the revised British Standard 5839-1 guidance, with evidence suggesting that their introduction has contributed to a decline in accidental and malicious activations.
Smoke detectors are another common cause of false alarm activations. Airborne pollutants, steam, or dust, along with cooking fumes or insects can all cause a detector to activate. In fact, false alarms due to apparatus are the main culprit, with over 179,000 such incidents annually, a category that includes detector issues. Ensuring your detectors are correctly sited and maintained is therefore crucial.
Ensure employees are aware of where detectors are so they can be mindful when carrying out certain tasks, particularly in high-risk zones like kitchens (common in the food or leisure sectors) or areas undergoing renovation. If works are taking place in a specific area, it may be worthwhile isolating that specific fire alarm zone for the duration of the works, though this must be managed strictly in accordance with your fire risk assessment and insurance requirements.
If false alarms from detectors are an issue, you should consider the type of detectors you have installed. Smoke detectors may not be the best choice for all areas of your workplace. For instance, in dusty factory environments, a standard smoke detector is far more susceptible to false triggers. With many other options such as beam detectors, heat detectors and air aspirating detectors amongst others, it may be that another type of detector is more suited to specific locations. Considering modern multi-sensor technology, which combines two or more sensing elements (like smoke and heat), is highly recommended as it has been proven to significantly reduce unwanted alarms by requiring multiple indicators before triggering a full alert. This multi-sensor approach is a key strategy for reducing call-outs caused by environmental factors like steam or dust, thereby improving business continuity. This could greatly reduce to chances of false alarms and forms a crucial part of an effective fire safety plan. To delve deeper into detector types, you can review our guide on how to choose the right fire detection system for your business.
Beyond replacing old sensors, the integration of smart fire systems and remote monitoring is rapidly transforming false alarm management. Modern fire systems utilise advanced algorithms and Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to monitor environmental changes and detector health in real-time. For instance, predictive maintenance is a growing trend, where the system itself can flag a detector that is accumulating dust or experiencing drift before it reaches a false-alarm threshold. This proactive approach, detailed further in our blog on what is predictive maintenance in fire safety systems, allows for targeted cleaning or maintenance without disrupting operations.
Furthermore, remote fire alarm monitoring services can often verify or pre-vet an alarm signal before contacting the FRS, especially for automated alarms that are not confirmed by a building occupant. This verification step can eliminate thousands of unnecessary call-outs each year, saving businesses money and freeing up critical emergency services resources. This is particularly valuable for protecting large, sensitive, or high-traffic properties such as healthcare facilities or schools.
A regular maintenance programme for your fire alarm system is vital. Poor maintenance is one of the leading causes of apparatus-related false alarms. It’s important to ensure your maintenance service provider has a third party accreditation such as BAFE. This ensures only competent people work on your system, and that it is serviced correctly and checked thoroughly for faults.
Neglecting fire alarm servicing can lead to dusty detectors, intermittent wiring issues, and other technical faults that generate false alarms. You should investigate and resolve any faults immediately to ensure correct functioning of the fire alarm system. For more information on the standards and importance of accreditation, you can visit our accreditations page.
Generally, you should replace detectors every 10-15 years, although this varies depending on the manufacturer and the operational environment. When ageing equipment starts to fail, it can become the source of false alarm activations. This issue is particularly common with older optical smoke detectors. If this becomes the case and your detectors or main fire alarm panel is beginning to fail, it may be time to weigh up the cost of call out charges and the disruption caused against the cost of a new fire alarm system, especially if your current system is now obsolete and replacement parts are not readily available. You can compare the latest system options in our guide on wired vs. wireless fire alarm systems to help inform your decision.
After you review your call point locations, detector locations and types, and the age of your system, there’s a few other things that can be done.
Is your alarm on auto-dial during occupied hours, and does it need to be? When system tests occur, are employees aware? Can you isolate areas during testing? And have all employees received fire safety training and are aware of what to do in the event of a fire? Training is key to reducing complacency; our article on creating fire safety champions offers further insight.
Is your business activity the same? Or has there been any modifications to the building itself? If so, you should have your fire risk assessment reviewed to ensure you’re fully protected against the threat of fire, and that your fire alarm system doesn’t need replacing or updating.
Not only do false alarms cost money, but they also put lives at risk. Employees can quickly become complacent if false alarms are a regular occurrence, a phenomenon known as ‘alarm fatigue’. A recent survey revealed that over half of business owners worried that frequent false alarms lead to staff not taking real alarms seriously, which could result in disaster. If a real fire occurred, there’s a serious risk that not everyone would make it out of the building in time.
And it’s not just your employees that are at risk. There’s a very real chance that the Fire and Rescue Service could be attending a false alarm activation instead of attending to a real fire elsewhere! Understanding your legal responsibilities in such an event is also vital; you can learn more in our article Are you liable: Understanding legal responsibility in fire incidents at work.
For any of the fire safety services mentioned above, including modern fire detection systems, please complete your details to request a no-obligation quotation.
For expert advice on your current fire alarm systems, or if you have any other concerns you would like to discuss then please contact us on 0330 094 7404, and one of our Fire Safety Consultants will be on hand to take your call.
