Alarm panel titles/labels

[FireEMSPolice]

Anyone else get annoyed by incoherent labels? For example, where I work it seems when offices got moved around, nobody bothered to change the alarm panel label. So if we get an alarm to the "Map Room," unless you know where the Map Room formerly was and what it is now, you are left scratching your head wondering where the alarm is. This results in most officers just silencing the alarm without investigation since they dont know where it is. If I dont know where it is, I will do a quick walk through of the site. I dont have a large site, and I know this may be tougher with larger client sites. I also know its NOT cheap to get the panel reprogrammed. When I used to work at a mall, it took me nearly 2 years to figure it out because 1) ADT would say one thing 2) our sheet would direct us to one place and 3) the panel would tell you somewhere else. I had to come in during the night, place the system on "test" and set off points on the burglar alarm individually to get them down. Then I had to plead my case for nearly $2000 to reprogram the panel right and it worked...but that was just the fire panel, not the burglar alarm.

Anyone else annoyed by this?

[Jaeger]

One of my evening shift sites has a very effective, all-encompassing CCTV system installed around the building. Since I am not currently on-site, I can't tell you the exact amount of cameras, but I'm guessing there's about 60 cameras around the building set to monitor various areas.

The program that runs the cameras on the PC has the option to name the areas which the cameras are recording live from. A few times when there's been false alarms recorded during the night, the alarm logs have showed interesting, completely different call signs of the areas which have taken us some time to tackle first from the monitors and then from the building blueprints concerning the camera system.

The names appearing on the monitor no longer correspond- or should I say rarely correspond to the actual current areas. The reason why no-one has bothered to change the names is simply because the areas change on a regular basis, and the changing of the names on the monitor is deemed unnecessary because of this.

[HotelSecurity]

Oyr panels are in french!

[Warren14]

Anyone else get annoyed by incoherent labels? For example, where I work it seems when offices got moved around, nobody bothered to change the alarm panel label. So if we get an alarm to the "Map Room," unless you know where the Map Room formerly was and what it is now, you are left scratching your head wondering where the alarm is. This results in most officers just silencing the alarm without investigation since they dont know where it is. If I dont know where it is, I will do a quick walk through of the site. I dont have a large site, and I know this may be tougher with larger client sites. I also know its NOT cheap to get the panel reprogrammed. When I used to work at a mall, it took me nearly 2 years to figure it out because 1) ADT would say one thing 2) our sheet would direct us to one place and 3) the panel would tell you somewhere else. I had to come in during the night, place the system on "test" and set off points on the burglar alarm individually to get them down. Then I had to plead my case for nearly $2000 to reprogram the panel right and it worked...but that was just the fire panel, not the burglar alarm.

Anyone else annoyed by this?

Are you there for insurance purposes or are you there to protect the client's assets?
Request a meeting with your client.
When he asks you what for, use a punch line like “the security system you have got here is of little value to your company.”
Once you have got his attention explain to him the problem & what it could cost his company if there was a break in, then you give him a solution to the problem.
E.g. Instead of using department names which change frequently, use numbers & letters which won’t change.
If you have a computer at hand, draw a power point map of the site with an index showing you where all the alarm devices are in the company.
When you get alarm activation at EZ12 all you need to do is pull up the map & where EZ12 is & respond immediately.
Explain to the client what benefits a quick response would be to his company not how it would benefit you.
Remember if an incident does happen the client is going to turn around & say YOU! Are the professional that is why he employed you.

[CameraMan]

E.g. Instead of using department names which change frequently, use numbers & letters which won’t change.
If you have a computer at hand, draw a power point map of the site with an index showing you where all the alarm devices are in the company.
When you get alarm activation at EZ12 all you need to do is pull up the map & where EZ12 is & respond immediately.

That's what I always did when programming alarm panels, I had no idea everyone didn't do this.

[Insert grumbling about what a bunch of lazy jerks ADT is]

In fact, we'd put a label on the contact/sensor/camera with a code so we could quickly identify it. Helped with troubleshooting.

[Warren14]

Please excuse my grammar in the last post.
Trying to post late at night when your brain is shutting down does not work too well

That's what I always did when programming alarm panels, I had no idea everyone didn't do this.

What I see here is a company trying to make a fortune in after sales services & secondly if FireEMSPolice was able to talk to his manager, his manager would have known about the problem & been able to deal with it. Then again, that is what I like about these managers whose position has gone to his head.
While they are making suffering from stress, loosing clients & shouting at their security officers, I listen to my staff & when there is a problem & deal with it.

[Insert grumbling about what a bunch of lazy jerks ADT is]

Shoosh, don’t talk too loud, 40% of my previous company was ex ADT clients.

[Curtis Baillie]

I 've fired ADT and cancelled so many of their contracts I couldn't count them on two hands. In my opinion, they are absolutely terrible. I was inclined to go with smaller outfits and every time ADT would buy them up and expect me to continue with them.

[FireEMSPolice]

I 've fired ADT and cancelled so many of their contracts I couldn't count them on two hands. In my opinion, they are absolutely terrible. I was inclined to go with smaller outfits and every time ADT would buy them up and expect me to continue with them.

At the mall job, the alarm was ADT. However, they inherited it from someone else. Just before I left, the cancelled ADT and gave the job to another company who subbed out alarm monitoring.

At my current job, since its a government account, the 9-1-1 monitors the alarms and will dispatch the appropriate resources (police and fire). If its during the day, they will call over the radio to have a Security Officer or LEO verify whats happening.

I usually like to mark something near the contacts so it matches the panel so when one person shows up, they know they are at the right spot.

For example:

Alarm Panel will read: 32 MAIL ROOM EXT

the "32" is the point/zone number and the "MAIL ROOM EXT" says the zone/area is the exterior door of the mail room.

Near the door contact, I will simply mark "32" on the door or door frame.

[PolarDeer]

That's what I always did when programming alarm panels, I had no idea everyone didn't do this.

[Insert grumbling about what a bunch of lazy jerks ADT is]

In fact, we'd put a label on the contact/sensor/camera with a code so we could quickly identify it. Helped with troubleshooting.

That's about the standard in these parts, possibly a division into groups and subgroups in the case of larger systems. For instance, 4705 as an example device code would be group 4, subgroup 7, device 5. Seen that in most of the fire alarm systems I've had to deal with at work, makes localization easier. Even if you don't remember in which areas the groups and subgroups are located, having a map available is legally required in case of fire alarm systems. The same doesn't apply to other types of systems though, at least in case of legal requirements.

[Condo Guard]

Yes, I agree with all the posts. Our most recent problem was a person trapped in the elevator - there is a 'help' button that goes to the same alarm center as our fire alarms. While some of our buildings have similar names, each one has a specific number, which I always verify.

Doesn't help if the alarm co. has them bass akwards. Doesn't make me look good when I arrive and say, "Oh, sorry for the delay, we got sent to the wrong building." We've asked them to correct this at least twice.