ALBERTA TECHNICAL SEMINAR

CFAA Canadian Fire Alarm Association

Glenmore Inn & Convention Centre

Understanding the Changes and Updates

October 21st, 2015

PRESENTER

William A. (Sandy) Mackenzie NCSO, SCO (Fire Discipline)

Senior Fire and Building Code Specialists

Behr Energy Services Ltd.

False Alarms, Hotworks, &

Mass Notifications

• For Multiple Building Sites – Universities – Colleges

UNIVERSITY of ALBERTA – North Campus (126 Buildings)

UNIVERSITY of CALGARY – Main Campus (69 Buildings)

UNIVERSITY of LETHBRIDGE (13 Buildings)

RED DEER College (10 Buildings)

SAIT Campus (15 Buildings)

NAIT Edmonton Campus (24 Buildings)

FALSE ALARMS

False Alarm – Town of Okotoks

• “False Alarm" means the activation of a security alarm or fire alarm system as a result of which services, including Police Services and Fire Services, are provided on behalf of the Town/City/County and the providers of the service do-not find any unauthorized entry or commission of an unlawful act or any evidence of fire, fire damage, smoke in relation to the building, structure, residence or facility, or where there has been no emergency situation. False alarm incidents include but are not limited to:

• a) the testing of an alarm which results in a Police or Fire response, b) an alarm actually or apparently activated by mechanical failure, malfunction or faulty equipment,

• c) an alarm activated by user error, • d) an alarm reporting an attempted or completed criminal offence, fire

or an emergency situation occurring on or in relation to the address in which the alarm system is installed where no evidence exists or where no such event took place, e) an alarm actually or apparently activated by atmospheric conditions, excessive vibrations or power failure.

False Alarm – Municipality of Crowsnest Pass

• “FALSE ALARM" means an alarm signal which results in a response by the RCMP and/or Community Peace Officers where unauthorized entry to the alarmed premises has not occurred in which no police emergency exists, but does not include:

• a) Any false alarm which the occupant or business can clearly demonstrate was caused by a storm, lightning, fire, earthquake or any other act of GOD; or,

• b) Any false alarm which the occupant can demonstrate was not caused by a lack of due diligence prescribed using Peace Officer discretion in the matter.

False Alarm - AFC

• AFC 2014 6.1.1.3 (2) If a person who carries out the maintenance of fire protection installations, including but not limited to portable fire extinguishers, fire extinguishing systems, fire alarm systems or fire alarm devices, discovers that a device or system is inoperative or defective and the owner or their authorized agent is unwilling or unable to correct the defect, the person carrying out the maintenance shall forthwith notify, in writing, the fire department and the owner or their authorized agent of that notification.

False Alarm – Edmonton Fire & Rescue

• “FALSE ALARM" are fire alarm systems that are activated directly or through an emergency system monitored by the fire alarm system as a result of:

– Equipment malfunction or failure

– Improper or inadequate installation or maintenance;

– Work taking place on the fire alarm system;

– Fire drills involving activation of the fire alarm system where the Fire Department has not been notified

– Building activities such as construction, renovation, maintenance or cooking.

False Alarm Calls

• Over a short two month period in 2014 Edmonton Fire responded to 684 false alarm calls.

• In 2014 the Calgary Fire Department responded to 8,527 False Alarm Calls – 2014 calls to the U of C – 101

• In 2014 Lethbridge Fire responded to 749 alarm calls – 2014 calls to the U of L – 15

Down from 31 in 2012 – 2014 saw a reduction in false alarms to

Lethbridge College from 61 in 2012 to 6 in 2014

Lethbridge Fire Alarm

Reduction Program

• Resistance at the start of the program • Checklist for Contractors • Tours with Maintenance people at that the College

– Changing some smoke detectors to heat detectors or small relocation of devices but still meet engineering guidelines

• New residence (1st and 2nd year Students) regarding false alarm prevention program

• Billing directly to contractors – Have seen a slight rise in bid proposals from contractors

• FPB spending time talking directly with management of both schools and continue to do so.

Sample of False Alarm Causes

• Cooking in microwaves and toaster ovens • Researcher heating paraffin wax in a toaster

oven (Explosion) no alarm • No bags in vacuum cleaners • Conducting hotworks in areas not previously

approved • Moving drywall into a space a hitting a

sprinkler head • Clean Pak truck operator hitting a 150mm fire

water line with raised clean-pak box • Faulty detectors, mostly smoke detectors

(aged out) • Vapor Type Cigarettes in stairwells

No Alarm and No Pull Station Activated

False Alarms Fees

• Calgary – 1st Offence –

No charge – 2nd Offence -

$300 – 3rd Offence -

$600 – 4th Offence -

$1,000

• Edmonton – 1st Offence -

$300 – 4th Offence -

$1224

False Alarms Fees

• Medicine Hat – 1st Offence –

No charge – 2nd to 5th

Offence - $250 – More than 5

Offences - $500

• Lethbridge – 1st Offence –

No charge – 2nd Offence -

$275 – 3 or more

Offences - $675

False Alarms Fees

• Toronto – per Vehicle Fee – 1st Offence - $410 – On Average A

Minimum 3 Vehicle Response –

– Total $1230

Calgary Rebate Program

Rebate Program Individuals assessed fees for false fire alarms may apply to the Fire Department within the calendar year for reimbursement up to a maximum of 50 per cent of the fees paid. Reimbursement will be provided if you can provide documentation of repair costs associated with an active effort to improve system performance to reduce the likelihood of future false alarms.

Medicine Hat Rebate Program

Rebate Program Where a person who has paid a fee for a False Alarm has made or caused to be made improvements to the Alarm System or in some other way has taken steps to ensure that False Alarms do not occur, that person may apply to the Affected Department for a rebate of up to 50% of the fee charged provided that the application is made in writing and received by the Affected Department within sixty (60) days of the date of the invoice by which the fee was charged.

Toronto Fee Review Program

Review Program Any person or organization who has been assessed with a false fire alarm charge who wishes to appeal a response determined by the fire department as a false alarm may submit a letter requesting a review of the charges. Your letter must include reason for appeal and provide information to support your request that the incident was not a false fire alarm.

Solution to a Series of Bldg. False

Alarms

• First three weeks of operation – 8 to 10 false alarms

• Rate of Rise Heat Detectors • Supply air plenum above ceiling • Engineered solution • Result – no alarms after • Second new Bldg. will also be

changed

HOT WORKS

Hotworks

• Alberta Fire Code

• Alberta OHS Regulations 2009 – Part 10 – 169 (1-3)

Hotworks Permits

• Over a period of One Year the U of C will process approximately 350 to 400 Hotworks and Dust Permits – Can be very Impactful on a Fire

Department • Each and everyone has an impact on

the Life Safety Team – Fire Alarm Systems – Sprinkler Systems

Construction Projects

Hotworks Permits

• Prime Contractor impact of projects that affect new and existing buildings

• Who is ultimately responsible for the hotworks permit – Impact on classes, labs (animal labs), and

health examination facilities (colon clinics, etc.)

• Permit Procedures\ – Training of Contractors – Training of maintenance staff members

Hotworks Permits

• Out of the Ordinary permits – Hot sealing of Floors in a medical procedure

facility • Use of CO2 instead of Dry Chemical

• Alarm systems off-line in a sprinklered area – Capped Smoke heads – Off-line at the fire panel

• Three days notice • Emergency Repair work • Fire Watch requirements

Hotworks Permits

• Who signs off on hot works permits – Alarm techs – Health and Safety Departments – Fire Department

• Number of permits would have a large cost impact on fire service

– Who trains the fire watch personnel

MASS NOTIFICATION

Mass Notification

• Mass notification system is used for conveying real time critical information about the occurrence of any event. The use of mass notification service helps in minimizing human errors, rumors, distractions, and misinformation.

Mass Notification

• The message distribution in the mass notification system can be achieved via web-based portal, mobile application, call centers, or web browser. The mass notification systems are used in emergency, business-context-based alerting, business operations notifications, public safety, and IT service alerting.

Mass Notification

• The availability of sub-standard substitutes for public safety is acting as a major road block, for the wide adoption of the mass notification market. The sub-standard solution has grown up significantly in the recent years, owing to the absence of standard regulations for mass notification systems across the end users industries.

• However, the mass notification system in military and educational institutions is highly regulated, due to the criticality of the message and sensitive nature of operations. The growing need for crowd management, increasing security threats, in addition to growing market penetration of mass notification in business operations are driving the global mass notification market.

Mass Notification

• Most fire experts recommend campuses also include voice evacuation in their new fire alarm systems to provide mass notification capabilities.

• The reasons for including a voice component are fairly straightforward: it’s no longer appropriate for a fire alarm system to only set off strobes and sirens indicating people in a building should evacuate. Now, these systems must be able to direct building occupants on what to do and where to go during a multitude of potential emergencies.

Mass Notification

• For example, during an active shooter incident, campus officials might need to tell occupants to shelter in place. For a tornado, the verbal instructions might be for students, staff, patients and visitors to move away from windows and into the building’s interior or basement. Additionally, instructions might vary from building to building.

Mass Notification – Tornado Calgary 2015

Mass Notification

• Because of the need for campus fire systems to address more than just fires, many experts anticipate that in the near future, the majority of new systems deployed on campuses will include audio.

• “I think in the next five years, we will have very few horn/strobe-type systems being installed,” says Michael T. Madden, who is national sales manager for Gamewell FCI. “I think we’re going to move over to voice just for the simple reason that it does so much more.”

• If a campus does decide to incorporate voice evacuation in its fire system, intelligibility becomes a key factor. After all, what’s the point of having an emergency public announcement system if building occupants can’t understand the information being conveyed?

Mass Notification

• “A lot of campuses are just concerned about monitoring the fire alarm systems but not having a whole lot of interoperability between them,” he says. “In those instances, it’s not that big of an issue if you have fire alarm systems from different manufacturers because all of them have a method of sending a signal out to a receiving station.”

• The downside of this type of solution, however, is that it doesn’t identify the specific type of problem that is causing the alarm, nor does it provide zones so the problem can be quickly located by first responders.

Mass Notification – U of A

• U of A Alerts is a combination of communication methods to alert you should an emergency incident happen at the University that poses a risk to life or health and requires timely notification of protective action recommendations. In other words: where there is urgent action required for your health or safety.

• U of A Alerts also provides information updates through less rapid means to keep you informed until the incident is resolved.

– Ualberta.ca – Website

– Alertus Beacon - hardware piece has been installed in several buildings across campus, technology to alert classrooms and lecture theatres where personal phones maybe off.

– Alertus Desktop - new software package being piloted for all U of A computers.

– Ualberta App - mobile application for iOS and Android devices contains the ability to notify you during emergencies.

– Text Messaging - If you do not have a smart phone and wish to receive alerts text messages, contact OEM Manager.

Mass Notification – MacEwan University

• The launch of a new online mass notification system later this week will add another tool to the university’s emergency response system.

• When fully implemented, MacEwan Alert will send email and text messages to all students, faculty and staff during emergencies—anything from severe weather and building closures to violent incidents and other threats to safety on campus. Feb 2015

Mass Notification – University of Lethbridge

• The University EMP is based on the Incident Command System (ICS) which is an all-hazard, all-risk approach to managing crisis response as well as non-crisis response. It is recognized each and every hazard is different and should be treated accordingly.

• The safety and security of all members of the University Community is a top priority. In the event of an emergency situation in residence or on campus please follow the protocols set out by Security Services.

Mass Notification – University of Lethbridge

• Security Services or emergency services may convey information to you include: – 1. Mass email

– 2. VoIP telephones

– 3. Webpage (Notice Board or Emergency Response Plan website)

– 4. Fire speaker system

– 5. Digital signage

– 6. Printed signage

– 7. Residence TV channel (Channel 12)

Mass Notification – Red Deer College

• We invested in Cisco phones. We found that the majority of our phones that we had purchased had speakerphone capability. So we thought that if we could take over that speakerphone in an emergency case, provide the message, broadcast through there, of course the added benefit of throwing text on of the screen of the phone was very beneficial.

• We found that Singlewire had the capability of doing this. From there, we are now a full Singlewire site, both here and our downtown campus.

• In our use of InformaCast, we quickly realized that we can isolate our building into five different fire zones. Each of them has their own PA to cover their hallway space. We can send a message just to the hallway speakers in that area, if we want, instead of interrupting classrooms.

• We are excited to announce that UC Emergency is now available in app stores for Android, Blackberry and IOs devices.

• Please visit www.ucalgary.ca/emergencyapp for more information

Mass Notification – University of Calgary

• Upgrading of all building Fire Alarm System to addressable fire systems.

• Approximately 5 buildings left to be upgraded on Main Campus

• Implementation of prerecorded voice announcement for an emergency event. – Fire

– Shooter – Lock Down

– Chemical Release, etc.

• Notification through alarm system would come from Campus Security Dispatch Centre

Mass Notification – University of Calgary

• HIGH RIVER, AB: High River residents can now receive critical, time-sensitive emergency alerts directly through their phone, email and text messages with the brand new High River ALERT system. The new system is part of a comprehensive emergency management plan being implemented by the Town of High River.

• “Providing residents and businesses as much time as possible to prepare for an emergency is a key priority for this council,” said Mayor Craig Snodgrass. “We want to have multiple ways to provide residents with early warning and make sure they are aware of an emergency situation.” – High River ALERT can send notifications regarding: – Critical emergency alerts (immediate threat to safety) – Severe weather warnings for High River – Public safety notifications (water, utility, fire, RCMP, and

transportation alerts)

Mass Notification – High River

• Emergency mass notification system needs vary across organizations.

• As a result, the selection criteria can change drastically depending on the size and location of a college or university.

• Despite the different challenges and solutions, there are a number of important factors that all educational institutions should keep in mind when selecting an emergency mass notification system.

Mass Notification

• Integration – Ensuring existing systems are compatible with new system

• Notification Coverage – Can range from simple to elaborate, easy to fixate on specific

services or products – Look for comprehensive coverage with a variety of communication

systems / methods • Alerting and Notifying

– Ensure that they are alerted to the emergency: sound tones, speakers, displays, ,and strobes, look for a system that has audible and visual message sending

• Code Compliance • Be mindful of important mass notification codes, NEW – “CAN/ULC-

S576, Standard on Mass Notification Systems, Equipment and Accessories

Mass Notification

“CAN/ULC-S576, Standard on Mass Notification Systems, Equipment and Accessories • This standard contains requirements that cover discrete electrical control

units, communication units, transport products which manipulate data packets, interfaces, and accessories for Mass Notification Systems.

• The products covered by this standard are intended to be used win combination with other appliances and devices to form an emergency communications and/or mass notification system.

• Communication is through voice, audible, and /or visual instructions.

Mass Notification

• Mass texts, emails, and phone robot – This is typically the first course of action on the MNEC front for organizations

as it’s a cost-effective way to get a message out to the masses.

• Health and safety Apps • This is another cost-effective way to stay informed

• Desktop alerts and mobile dashboards • Messages can be disseminated to networked desktops and laptops via

browser-based pop-up alerts • Mobile dashboards enable users to respond to alerts or initiate alerting

• Digital signage • In classrooms can display emergency broadcasts onscreen and provide the

proper instructions.

• Asset management software • Integration with lighting control solution • Integration with Building Management Systems (BMS)

Trends in Mass Notification

• Asset management software • Asset management software, such as Crestron Fusion® and RoomView®

Express allow users to send messages to various display devices on a campus/corporate network, including smartboards, projectors and displays, digital room signage, and in-room touch panels.

• Integration with lighting control solution • Lighting can be tied into a MNEC system and presets can be created to assist

in emergency situations. Strobe lights, dimming lights, and turning all lights on may assist in making people aware of the incident, assist with concealing the fact that people are hiding in a certain room, or assist people with seeing better when their view is obstructed by smoke, etc

• Integration with Building Management Systems (BMS) • If a fuse blew, a boiler room went down, or a projector bulb blew out, MNEC

systems alert the proper first responders so a service call can be made immediately.

Trends in Mass Notification cont’d

• Two-way listening • Touch-screens in classrooms with SIP intercom systems

• Analog to digital • Utilizing digital PA systems, possibly live feed from a remote camera

• More integration • More integration between various systems in a building or group of buildings via

a single platform to work intelligently (flexibility and visibility), – Oil and Gas, large mines and process facilities use a form of this now

• Infrastructure • Implementation of a flexible control system that acts as the central brain,

organizations can integrate the BMS, PA system, door system, security cameras, fire and alarm system, lighting, HVAC, and phone systems.

• AV Team • The AV integrator and/or consultant designing a MNEC system will be working

closely with the organization’s IT Manager, Security & Safety Department, and Facilities Manager. The role of the integrator/consultant is to design a system that satisfies the agendas of all three.

Future in Mass Notification

THANK YOU

For more information contact:

BEHR Energy Services Ltd. Phone: 403-444-6940

Email: sandy.mackenzie@behrenergy.com www.behrenergy.com

QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS