An alarming situation

From 1 October 2005, installers of intruder alarms systems will no longer be allowed to follow the British Standard for intruder alarms – BS 4737. Instead they will be obliged to comply with the requirements of a British Standards Institution (BSI) document known as PD 6662: 2004.

This document is not a standard as such, but it does include the European Standard prEN 50131-1: 2004. It is in effect a guide, in the absence of a full suite of European Standards, indicating which parts of the existing European and British Standards should be implemented in the UK. This allows for standards coverage of components, such as detectors, not covered in the existing suite of European Standards.

Before October 2005, contractors could install alarm systems that complied with either BS 4737 or the European standard in conjunction with PD 6662:2004. This meant that if they followed the European standard, then they needed to ensure that the equipment they installed met the requirements as laid out in PD 6662: 2004.

Sweet harmony

To reach the present stage of harmonisation of security system standards within Europe has not been easy. National standards in the different countries vary enormously in terms of practice and quality. Harmonisation involves balancing the need to maintain the high standards used in some countries, that often result in expensive installations, with the more lax and significantly cheaper standards used elsewhere.

It is a balancing act that has proved difficult. Despite many years of work by CENELEC, the European standards body, the process of creating European standards covering all types of security equipment and systems is far from complete.

It is planned to create several groups of standards related to the security industry. This article is restricted to two standards; EN 50131 – intrusion systems and EN 50136 – alarm transmission systems. The plan is for EN 50131 to have seven parts, but so far only parts 1 and 6 – general requirements and power supplies – have been completed. Other parts have been published as Technical Specifications. These include TS 50131-7 – application guidelines for installers and maintenance companies, available from the BSI as a Draft for Development (DD).

The UK was represented on the committees preparing the European standards right from the beginning. However, it was not until 1997 and 1998, with the publication of various documents, that there was general awareness in the UK of the shortcomings of EN 50131.

With the idea of assisting installers, the BSI published a document entitled ‘A scheme for the application of European Standards for intruder alarm systems’, labelled as PD 6662: 2000. Industry take-up of this guide was limited, mainly because, although standards existed for the installed system and for power supplies, the lack of standards for detectors and other parts made the use of EN 50131 difficult. To address this, PD 6662 was later revised.

Best of British

In the UK, BS 4737 and other British Standards suited the industry and there was no desire to move to an unknown and, in some cases, awkward standard. However, under rules followed by the BSI, the existence of a European standard covering the same subject as a BS meant that the latter must be withdrawn after a period of overlap.

The decision was initially made to withdraw the British standards in September 2003. This was later changed to the spring of 2004, with 1 October later that same year as the cut-off date for the overlap. In fact, it was only on 1 October of this year that the Euronorm became the only requirement.

Another difficulty that has had to be addressed is that EN 50131-1, published in 1997, is currently being revised, to be released as a new standard in late 2005 or early 2006. It was realised that if the UK were to start to use the original version this year, and a new EN was published within a year or so, even more confusion would ensue. To prevent this, PD 6662: 2004 includes a ‘mature draft’ version of the proposed new EN standard, referred to as prEN 50131-1: 2004.

A further complication is that changes to alarm confirmation requirements (DD 243) plus PA and duress provisions are to be introduced. It had been hoped that these changes would have been published in early 2004.

The plan was that manufacturers and installers would complete the changeover to the new EN by March 2005. Delays in revising DD 243 meant this took place in October 2005. Installers are advised to check whether equipment complies with both the new PD 6662: 2004 and also DD 243:2004 or DD 243:2005.

From what is written above, it should be clear that the standards situation in the UK is quite complex and the installer needs to be alert to the difficulties they could face. Obviously, installers will be trying to find equipment that is suitable for use in an EN 50131 installation. So what should they be looking for? Well, equipment that claims either compliance with, or suitability for use with, PD 6662: 2004 installations. Be aware that if an installation needs to meet the revised DD 243: 2004 then the equipment should also be suitable for use with it.

Product placement

Remember EN 50131-1 is an installation standard and therefore no manufacturer can claim their products comply with it, although the products may be suitable for use in an installation conforming to the standard. In any case, such claims in respect of UK installations would be irrelevant, as any claim of compliance should refer to PD 6662: 2004.

Nevertheless, a product that claims suitability for use with EN 50131-1 might be suitable for use in a PD 6662: 2004 installation. An installer would need to confirm this, bearing in mind that, in respect of alarm system components, there is at present only a limited number of EN standards that are relevant to PD 6662:2004.

My advice to installers is for them to familiarise themselves with PD 6662:2004 and prEN 50132-1. They might also find useful the Form 171 published by the British Security Industry Association (BSIA), which gives guidelines to help explain the European standard.