Fire alarm verifiers

Appointment of fire marshals/fire wardens, fire alarm verifiers, fire incident controllers and members of first responder/fire teams... 

In order to ensure the safe evacuation of people in the event of fire it is not possible merely to rely on building design, adequate means of escape, fire alarms, emergency lighting, etc. In all but the smallest workplaces it will be necessary to have staff that have been trained to assist with emergency evacuation. Specifically those people responsible for fire safety within buildings and outside venues will need to consider the provision of fire wardens/marshals, crowd safety stewards, fire alarm verifiers and fire incident controllers. 

Deployment - as with other key roles that assist in the emergency evacuation of people in a fire it is vital that, if the emergency evacuation procedures involve a fire alarm verifier, adequate management arrangements are made to ensure that there is at least one person available to fulfil this role at all times. 

Training - in order to be effective in this role it is important that any persons nominated to act as a fire alarm verifier are provided with training and instruction on how to interrogate the fire alarm panel and interpret the information from the panel and any signs of fire at the iocation indicated. 

A new fire alarm monitor was installed in the central control room to verify the function of each fire detector. This monitor has a second alarm function that re-alarms if another detector goes off. 

The competent advice and safety assistance in relation to fire includes the fire safety manager and those who provide assistance to them (fire warden, fire incident controller, alarm verifier - see Chapter 10). The law also allows for this competent person or persons to be appointed from outside an organisation such as the use of consultants. 

As part of the evacuation procedure of a premise fitted with an automatic fire alarm the role of an alarm verifier should be considered. The fire risk assessment will indicate at what stage an emergency evacuation may be initiated and, depending upon the risk, this will either occur prior to a verification of the alarm, at the same time as the alarm is being verified or as a result of the verification of the alarm. 

The role of fire incident controller is given to a person who will be responsible for the proactive and reactive roles of the fire wardens/marshals and alarm verifier. In addition they are the person responsible for coordinating any emergency evacuation including liaison with the fire and other emergency services. 

In a two-staged evacuation, there is an investigation period before the fire alarm sounders are activated. This approach is adopted for facilities such as halls of residence (student accommodation) and places of public entertainment. A staged evacuation ensures that confirmation of a fire can be verified prior to running the risk of... 

The objective of the verification and validation activity is to ensure that the installed FGS system is in compliance with standards, and with the FGS specification having various performance parameters. There are two distinct phases. The first phase shall be a verification of installed equipment against the FGS requirements of specifications. During this phase, aU detectors will be viewed at the facility in order to verify that they are the correct type, and installed in the proper orientation and location as per specification. The second phase of this task will involve validation testing. The validation testing shall be accomplished by physically activating each detector by either simulating a fire with a fire simulator, and gas detectors with calibrated gas of tbe supplier. In each case, the audio-visual alarm, etc. is to be verified also. 

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