Looking back ten years to Security Installer, November 1991
The bells, the bells!
(Twenty minutes of the mindless jangling of an angry alarm bell is enough for anyone, we said by way of preamble to a Bench Test ...)
"That was the official view, according to legislation called the London Local Authorities Bill recently passed by Parliament. It says effectively that if an alarm in the Greater London area sounds for more than 20 minutes, the local authority can silence it, and threaten heavy fines. Then there is the Environmental Protection Act which came into force in April 1991.

"This also takes a very dim view of noise pollution and it seems likely that installers may have some responsibility for systems under warranty and those for which they hold maintenance contracts. Horrendous sounding fines of up to £2,000 have been mentioned. Why do you need to worry when the control panels you use have a bell timer? Because you could have a control system failure or self-alarm module fault.

"Cast your mind back to the year of the gales. Many alarms rang on for hours because once the mains failed and the standby battery became exhausted, there was nothing to stop the sounder going on and on until the sounder battery was also exhausted. With all this in mind, TK Consultants has designed and produced a simple, robust module, the TK TIMER 20."

Are you legal?
(Any alarm system using components which transmitted radio frequencies was illegal if not approved. If you installed or used alarms not correctly approved, you could be prosecuted. We asked the Radio Investigations Service of the Radiocommunications Agency to explain. And they encouraged grassing up competitors! ...)
"Who is affected by these rules? Surprisingly, not the manufacturer – but the user and installer of the system are clearly mentioned in the rules, so they can be prosecuted. The maximum penalty is an unlimited fine and up to two years imprisonment, plus forfeiture of the equipment. The distributor can be prosecuted for incitement to commit such an offence. It could be a costly mistake.

"How can you tell that a product is OK? Look for the label – without it the equipment cannot be used legally. The requirements are generally that the device should bear an indelible mark such as MPT 1349 LICENCE EXEMPT.

"If you find your competitors are installing illegal products and undercutting you, let the RIS know. They will then be investigated."

Mushrooms, toilets and central stations
(Central station MD Brian Sparke, of Regal Security Services, urged each and every installer to think 'Monitoring' whenever talking to a customer, followed by 'how many signals can be sold'. This policy would surely bring prosperity ...)
"The charges raised by the central station for each signal in addition to the security alarm system are normally less than £10 a year. The perceived value to the customer for this service is amazingly high and consequently he is willing to pay a good deal.

"Progressive central stations have for some time monitored private and commercial customers and they range from mushroom growers, where the difference of a few degrees can mean the difference between profit and disaster, to self-cleaning toilets, where low levels of consumables, equipment failure and vandal attacks are monitored.

"One of the problems associated with environmental monitoring is obtaining a suitable interface between the communicator and the equipment. Digital Audio is looking into this area with a great deal of interest."