Derrick Hall, Director of Sales and Marketing, Kentec Electronics talks about the benefits of reliable and efficient alarm management with the Kentec Taktis
Taktis is Kentec’s most powerful and sophisticated analogue addressable fire alarm control panel. The latest version boasts several innovative new features including increased functionality for hotels and similar accommodation-based businesses such as student accommodation and sheltered housing.
These buildings have unique requirements when it comes to life safety, as they are busy environments that have a high density of people located over different areas.
Although fire detection systems are crucial for occupant safety, the occurrence of false alarms poses a significant challenge, leading to unwanted disruption. In the case of hotels, false alarms pose potential inconvenience for guests and hotel staff. Those who have had to evacuate a hotel in the middle of the night will understand the negative impact such an event has on customer satisfaction.
Cases where large numbers of false alarms are experienced also creates an environment of disbelief and complacency, which may cause people to delay acting when a real fire occurs. This combination can prove to be deadly.
BS 5839 defines a false alarm as a fire signal resulting from causes other than fire, and the activities of guests and residents contribute significantly to the creation of false alarms with aerosol sprays, cleaning fluids, candles, tobacco smoke and even burnt toast all common triggers. Steam particles from hot showers can cause the light particles in a detector to deflect in a similar way to smoke and, therefore, signal a fire condition.
Addressing this issue is essential to ensure the effectiveness of a fire detection system, while maintaining a seamless guest experience. It is a subject that Kentec has addressed in its pioneering Taktis fire alarm control panel. Ease of use and intuitive operation are cornerstones of Taktis, and it is designed to provide advanced and reliable fire detection and notification capabilities. It uses advanced detection technologies to swiftly identify and respond to potential fire incidents, while differentiating between false and genuine alarm situations.
The latest version of Taktis boasts a ‘hotel mode’ feature that helps hoteliers and managers of sheltered accommodation and student accommodation to further minimise disruption. Now if a detection device activates, only the sounder in the room concerned will initially operate, while Taktis notifies where the event has taken place. A predetermined period of time gives a designated competent person an opportunity to investigate and, if the activity causing the detector activation stops within that timeframe, the sounder will return to standby and Taktis will clear. In the case of a false alarm, this stops other alarms resonating through the building and initiating a full-scale evacuation. However, in the case of a genuine alarm, there will be an automatic escalation.
Another means of managing alarms is provided by the ability to set Taktis to ‘day’ or ‘night’ modes, with different alarm parameters for each setting. This allows for varying sensitivity levels and multiple conditions to be met before an alarm is triggered, and so better reflects the different purposes that buildings are put to during various times of the day. For example, pyrotechnics in a stadium or theatre during performances might be permitted under a more forgiving ‘day’ mode but would trigger an alarm in the usual way under a separate night setting.
Balancing the need for a robust and reliable fire detection system with the prevention of false alarms is crucial for maintaining a safe and uninterrupted guest and resident experience. With a strong likelihood of greater penalties for not addressing this issue in the future, it is vital to use a fire alarm control panel of the highest quality.
For further information please visit https://kentec.co.uk/taktis/#connect_section or contact sales@kentec.co.uk
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