London Fire Brigade Ends Automatic Alarm Response 

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02 July 2024

London Fire Brigade has announced it will no longer respond to daytime activations of automatic fire alarms in most non-residential buildings from October 2024.

 

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In the year to March 2024, LFB attended 52,000 false calls generated by automatic fire alarms. Less than one per cent of calls from non-residential automatic fire alarms are ultimately recorded as fires – the 99 per cent majority are false alarms.

In a bid to reduce this burden, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) has announced that automatic calls won’t be answered between 7 am and 8.30 pm in most non-residential buildings. This includes office blocks and industrial estates. 

Automatic alarms between the hours of 8.30pm and 7am will continue to be responded to, and there are several exemptions to the new rule, including: residential care homes, student accommodation, hotels, heritage buildings, schools and nurseries. Those who feel the building they manage has a special case to make regarding exemption should contact their local Borough Team or your local Prevention and Protection Team.

Insurance company AXA Commercial is advising London businesses to review their fire risk assessments and staff training:

 

1. Update fire risk assessments and staff training, with a particular emphasis on actions employees should take in the event of a fire alarm sounding during working hours. Where there is shift work, specific guidance should be provided for action required during response and non-response periods
2. Ensure that staff understand the need to dial 999 in event of a fire to report the incident to the fire service. Individual employees should be given responsibility for the action required
3. Establish an early identification system when the fire alarm is activated to determine if it is a false alarm or an actual fire that requires the premises to be evacuated and fire brigade called
4. Deliver training to the relevant staff so they understand messages displayed on the fire alarm panel to assist with early identification of which detector has been activated within the premises
5. Ensure that the fire alarm system has been regularly maintained by a competent contractor to prevent false alarms. Where the alarm signalling is connected to the BT RedCare system, early action should be taken to find an alternative alarm-receiving supplier before this service is withdrawn in August 2025

 

Dougie Barnett, AXA Commercial’s Director of Customer Risk Management said: “London Fire Brigade’s decision is in line with many other fire and rescue services across the UK and it’s crucial that London businesses are aware of the change. If there's a fire, employees need to know to dial 999 during the working day because there won’t be an automatic response by the fire brigade like in the past.

“The change will impact all businesses that have a remote connection to an alarm-receiving centre. It  means their fire risk assessments will need to be updated and staff will require additional training to make sure they respond in the appropriate way in case of fire.” 

Picture: a photograph of a wall-mounted fire alarm with the words "break glass, press here" written on it. Image Credit: Pexels

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 02 July 2024

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