So many changes, it’s impossible to comply

When I finished reading Carl Samm’s feature in November’s issue article I felt that I had to ring and congratulate him as I agreed with everything he had written.

Like Carl I have been involved in the security industry for over twenty years and in the beginning felt that there was an urgent need to improve the standards, not only in engineering but administration. However, over the last few years there have been so many changes it is difficult if not impossible to ensure compliance.

My understanding is that the police, insurers, manufacturers, representatives from the installers, and both the NSI & SSAIB discuss and agree to the various changes. If this is the case then there appears to be a major communication problem with the information filtering down to the people working at the coal face. When I have the need to discuss technical issues with a manufacturer or distributor relating to whether a particular product is compliant or discuss a problem with the police I am being made aware of yet further changes.

My own opinion is that the Insurers have passed the responsibility regarding risk assessment on to ourselves, the police do not want to be the first response to an activation of an intruder alarm, and the manufacturers do not respond to the needs of the end user and installers.

I feel that unless more people start voicing their opinions the situation will deteriorate even further. At the end of the day we are only installing an alarm system.

In summary, we are expected to comply with standards that are clearly unworkable, meet the demands of the customer and police and maintain a happy workforce.

Mike Gorman

Smiths Technical Systems, Kent