Apart from reading every edition of Security Installer up until October, where should installers go to get the latest on Euro standards for intruder alarms?

Security Installer has committed totally to keeping readers up to date with the switch over to Euro standards in the lead up to October 1.

In every issue since January we have carried advice features, opinions and comment designed to help intruder alarm installers overcome the hurdles and understand some of the, admitted, confusion about requirements.

We staged free information sessions in association with the BSIA at our Security Roadshow at Sandown Park and have further free sessions scheduled for our Roadshow in Edinburgh (see news page 7).

Under our "Deadline 1/10" banner we have carried key features looking at different aspects of EN50131 and how it will affect installers.

These are all available in the archive section of our website www.security-installer.co.uk.

One of these essential features, "Key to the Future", written by Drew Aitken of Honeywell Intruder, should be required reading for installers. We have also made that available on the IFSEC website. Go to www.ifsec.co.uk, access the "Show features" bar at the top of the screen and you will find it in the section on the Apprentice Skills Challenge. Our no-nonsense introduction to EN50131, "Be prepared", written by Martin Kane and Martyn Halliday, is also available on this site.

Use the resources

With the Internet now central to the way installers gather information, what other web resources are helping installers tackle the changes in EN50131-1 and PD6662, the "key" to their implementation?

A straight search through Google, the most popular search engine, reveals the companies and organisations that have also placed this high on their agenda and have taken the initiative in issuing free information to all installers.

Some names appear regularly in the searches – Cooper Security, suppliers of Menvier and Scantronic products, probably being the most apparent. This is a highly informative site with readily available information in a well-organised format under a full list of contents. (www.en50131.com).

The site gives a potted history of the standards and includes grading, compliance, the current situation, power supplies and signals to ARCs and is a comprehensive introduction for installers, which we have already recommended in this magazine.

Questions and answers

The aforementioned Honeywell Security has a clearly-written FAQ-format guide that anticipates many questions of installers (www.ademco-microtech.co.uk) ranging from "What are security grades?" to "What changes are there to panel programming?"

Informative sections on changes in power supply and the affect on detectors are also included. If you have a question not covered, it can be emailed for an answer.

Behind the scenes

Intruder alarm manufacturer Castle Care-Tech has been running installer seminars around the country, taken by Brian Harrington, who has been involved with the BSIA manufacturers' working group on EN50131 since its inception.

Make sure you are accessing information that is current

Possibly because of that, I would recommend this site (www.castle-caretech.co.uk) for regular visits as a Newsletter brings installers up to date with the sometimes complex behind-the-scenes issues that have affected the availability of products.

The latest newsletter says that compatibility problems and issues relating to interconnections between detectors and control panels have hampered all control indicating equipment manufacturers. The company will have compliant equipment available as soon as is practicable but could not be certain when.

Castle Care-Tech also has available a simple summary checklist to help installers measure up claims of compliance.

Easy reference

ADT 's website (www.adt.co.uk) has a quick summary of the requirements, comparing the major differences between EN50131 and BS4737 while WebWayOne looks at the communications requirements in EN50131 from the IP point of view (www.webwayone.co.uk).

Help with risks

A core part of EN50131 is risk assessment for installers. BT redcare runs a Risk Assessment Support Programme aimed at helping installers turn formal risk assessments from a chore into a tool for business growth. Information is available on www.redcare.bt.com on how to register to get a risk assessment guide, a survey template, planner and updates.

Upbeat attitude

For those installers who are downhearted on having to cope with the changes, CSL DualCom lists the benefits on its site. These include: remote diagnostics can be used to highlight, pinpoint and rectify any potential fault before it happens; panels will meet a much higher specification, increasing system integrity; increased panel power means fewer false alarms and maintenance by remote diagnostics will halve service overheads. Go to www.csl-communications.com.

Check it's up to date

A number of other manufacturers and organisation provide useful help but space limitations means we'll have to leave it to readers to find other online information. If readers would like to recommend any sites we will pass on their tips.

One word of advice to installers … Make sure when you are accessing information that it is current. Pages are not necessarily updated on the web and information may be out of date and misleading.

For instance, some web pages gave the impression that the standards call for qualified installers only. Although this was one of the original suggestions, it is currently not part of the legislation. At least two readers have written to our Mailbox pages on this subject in the past couple of months under the impression that they had to have qualifications to comply.

So try to check the date pages were written.

Issues still need to be resolved

A warning that there is still much work to be done on the standards is given on Menvier Security's website (www.menviersecurity.co.uk).

In a statement on the site (at the time of writing), Cooper Security points to "contradictions and inconsistencies" in the standards. It says it has various alarm panels under test which will be suitable for use in PD6662 systems but says that further clarification on the standards is necessary and there is much work to be done.

Cooper says a meeting between manufacturers, inspectorates and insurers was held under the auspices of the BSIA on March 31.

"Chaired by our Technical Director, the purpose of the meeting was to agree Issue 2 of Form 171 (a BSIA guideline document) which clears up further issues that have arisen since Issue 1 was agreed. Some of these will entail further changes to alarm panel software in the interests of creating a tenable situation for users and installers."

The revised Issue 2 document was now on internal circulation for approval and expected to be available from BSIA by the end of April 2005.

"Whilst primarily intended for use by manufacturers in the provision of compliant equipment, it is also a very useful source of information for installers who would like a better understanding of why a particular piece of equipment will or will not be compliant," says Cooper.

"The agreement and release of Form 171 Issue 2 will clear up most outstanding panel design matters, but as things currently stand it will still not be possible to install a PD6662:2004 compliant communicating system. This is because PD6662 includes two requirements that cannot currently be met."

One of the concerns regards availability of information on system grades to installers.

The other concerns availability of dual path communicators that can meet the requirement to signal whether a comms failure affects one path or both.

"A new serial comms interface has been agreed that will enable communicators to convey this information to alarm panels but it is not known when alarm transmission equipment will be available for testing with panels that incorporate this feature" says the statement.

The company says it will not be releasing PD6662 compliant panels until all the unresolved issues have been dealt with.

"To do so would be to run a high risk that the equipment would have to be upgraded or replaced in the coming months as the requirements continue to change and this is not in the interests of our customers or anyone else".

Source

Security Installer