Fire Protection Association Australia (FPAA) has been collaborating with the Federal Department of Communications and Arts to produce a Good Practice Guide regarding monitored fire alarm systems being migrated to the digital service. This guide has now been published.

“It has been a great experience to be able to coordinate and provide technical assistance from a range of key stakeholders to develop the guide,” said FPAA general manager of technical services and deputy CEO Matthew Wright, who chaired the Department’s Fire Alarm and Lift Phone Migration Roundtable Working Group

“Now that it’s published, the guide will provide the steps that need to be taken and by whom to migrate old monitored alarm systems to the digital network. This is vital as these old, fixed line services are being progressively disconnected and replaced by the NBN.”

“There are a number of different connection options based on your facilities’ particular circumstance and the services you have access to. Regardless of the option chosen, there is still an expectation to retain the network reliability goals in AS 1670.3 to ensure alarm monitoring performance is maintained when current fixed line services are disconnected.”

The guide is intended to be used as a handbook for fire protection and lift industries, building owners, building managers and bodies corporate, application services providers, telecommunications, retail service providers, regulators and government agencies, and equipment providers. It has been developed to assist them in carrying out their roles and responsibilities in the migration process.

“Monitored fire alarms provide fire and emergency services with the vital warning and information they need to manage incidents. So anyone who has a role in installing, servicing and maintaining a monitored alarm has a role to play in the migration of the old services, making this Guide a ‘must-read’ for practitioners,” said Matthew.

The Migration of Monitored Fire Alarms and Lift Phone Services Good Practice Guide can be downloaded from the Department website and from the FPAA Website.