Every day of the week we are told stories of crime and loss that happens in and around Metro Atlanta. So we preach, we train, we instruct and then we do the job beyond the expectations of our clients trying to protect them from those losses. Like all businesses, Rottweiler has one charge for the services that we deliver.
Do it right, do it well and treat the client with respect. So when you call, expect to be treated with an answer. The answer may not be the one you are looking to hear and probably you will have to spend some hard earned cash but in my opinion, it will be well worth your investment which brings me to the call of the week.
Often we receive calls asking about the required annual fire inspection for the fire system which monitors the building and is attached to the fire sprinkler system. The reason for the inspection is to inspect, test and verify that the fire system is working properly. (Now think about it, if you are trapped IN the building when a fire occurs, wouldn't you want to know that the fire system is in fact working?) So we preach...
We preach about safety, about lives that will be affected and the costs involved when a fire occurs. And when those that we know keep serenading the problem get trapped or caught, we witness it in the pain they experience. Which brings me to again mention some reminders that I think you should know, plan and implement with a monitored fire system.
- If you have a fire system in the building, check it monthly. If there are issues with the communicator, the issues need to be resolved. If the equipment fails, get it repaired. Don't wait because you will forget about it if you don't. Always check functionality of both fire and security systems monthly.
- Perform the annual inspections for the fire system. It's a code compliance requirement but more importantly you know that every device was working at the time of inspection and can repair or replace defective items as needed.
- If you have a flow control device on the fire system, check it monthly as well. The fire system should notify both monitoring and the fire station so make sure you notify them of the test. If you don't test them, system failure could cause tragedy such as in the case below.
- When Rottweiler installs a fire system it notifies us as well upon failure so we may address the issue. A fire system should also "ping" monitoring daily and if it is programmed correctly notifies someone if it fails to communicate due to failure so that the issue can be addressed.
- Over the year you may have changed dial tone companies or cancelled service to a line you did not realize was the line used to communicate by the fire system. Either way, simple tests catch an issue before a tragedy.
- Replace smoke detectors every 10 years. Most people do not realize that is what manufactures recommend. I know it costs some money but if you budget the expense you know they will perform at their maximum potential.
You may not take into the consideration the expense for procrastination or failure if you don't do the above recommendations. You may choose to serenade the risk as one of our clients did. We've had the discussion every year and every year, inaction and procrastination. Yesterday we received the call.
Because of the intense heat we have had this week in Georgia, a sprinkler head went off in one of the manufacturing plants we provide other services to. We have preached both system conversion and inspection to this client over the years. Each time with resistance. The call was different this time. It was different because this time employees arrived to a foot of water in the warehouse! Pallets of inventory destroyed, special computerized machines used to run production underwater and tens of thousands of gallons of water wasted. Total cost for inaction, probably over a million dollars, total loss of production runs and damage issues that will take months to repair.
The message from the Rottweiler Preacher... Don't serenade risk! Take action. You'll be glad you did. As with other products or services BACR Discounts apply for fire system inspections.
