BSIA working group GW-1-10 created PAS 38 eighteen months ago to address the lack of a national standard for visual remote monitoring. The British Standards Institution (BSI) has now published the revised PAS 38 as a Draft for Public Comment, with the standard set to become a full-fledged British Standard this summer, to be known as BS 8418. What's more, it looks increasingly likely that installers will have to meet the standard if they are to win contracts to install detector-activated CCTV remote monitoring systems.
Adam Wiseberg, who chairs the BSIA CCTV Section and the GW-1-10 working group (and is also managing director of visual remote monitoring provider RemGuard), says the Association of British Insurers (ABI) is considering specifying detector-activated remote monitoring systems to PAS 38 once it becomes a British Standard.
"There haven't been many instances to date where police have issued URNs (Unique Reference Numbers) to CCTV systems," reflects Wiseberg. "Insurers have had a major problem with how to specify CCTV systems because of this, and are looking at finding some kind of alarm system capable of getting a URN. They see that detector-activated CCTV can be a huge benefit in reducing the high false alarm rate that has accompanied intruder alarms."
Una Riley, former chairman of the BSIA CCTV section and now marketing chairman for the association, adds: "We met with the ABI and it was evident that they are crying out for this sort of standard."
West Midlands trial
The few instances where ACPO has issued URNs to CCTV remote monitoring systems were all during a West Midlands Police trial of visual remote monitoring. The BSIA code of practice that became PAS 38 was based on the results of that trial, which is why Wiseberg is confident ACPO will instruct police forces to demand PAS 38 when issuing URNS.
Talks between the BSIA working group and ACPO about this becoming a reality are still ongoing. But Wiseberg says: "We're hopeful and confident that it will happen."
Getting ACPO to sit up and take notice of PAS 38 has not been easy for the BSIA, though. Riley recalls: "I had hoped the standard would have been referred to in the ACPO 2000 book. But the BSIA working group didn't initially have representation at ACPO because it was deemed that there were too many people round the table (although the BSIA's Tim Geddes was there to represent the general interests of the intruder alarm sector). But we do have that representation now in Adam [Wiseberg]."
Five main guidelines
So what guidelines does the new draft standard for detector-activated remote CCTV lay down for installers and remote monitoring stations? Well, here are five main points:
Alarm receiving centres (ARCs) providing visual monitoring should be renamed Remote Video Response Centres (RVRCs).
Detector positioning is critical – detectors should only trigger within the field of view of the camera and detector patterns must not overspill the site boundaries.
Multiple detectors should not be connected to a single input.
The human target should fill an absolute minimum of 10 per cent of screen height for verification purposes and 50 per cent for recognition to be possible.
If cameras have to be positioned overlooking public areas, they must adhere to the guidelines of the Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act.
The standard also gives guidance on lighting, power failure and system integrity issues.
Riley believes that the standard will provide a "good, sound, practical document" for installers to use when installing detector-activated CCTV systems: "From an installation point of view, this introduces the installer to other areas of best practice, such as data protection," she says.
Fierce critics
The BSIA has won over the standard's fiercest critics – and there were plenty of them when PAS 38 was first published. Back then, a number of visual remote monitoring providers, including Imigix, Visual Verification and Farsight, criticised PAS 38.
These companies had two main complaints: first, they felt the standard produced didn't go far enough in addressing issues related to visual remote monitoring; second, these companies - all non-BSIA members – felt they hadn't been given a chance to have their say on PAS 38. Those same companies now praise the code and are giving it their full backing. So why the transformation in attitudes?
Riley explains: "One of the thrusts of getting the code to a PAS was to ensure everybody could have their input. We involved a number of companies who had been critical and they are now members of the group."
We’ve seen one site with a camera with 15 detectors linked to it – that’s just sheer madness. If you get a faulty detector, you’ll lose coverage of the entire site
Technical improvements
Paul Bromley, IT director at Farsight UK Ltd, one of the visual remote surveillance providers that criticised the original PAS 38, is now happy with the standard.
He says: "The BSIA working group has been pretty good at consulting people and getting feedback from central stations, installers and end-users. If it gets ACPO approval, the document as it stands will be a really workable solution for remote video response and surveillance.
"A lot of thought has been given to what is in the document, such as detector over-spillage, system configuration, and the number of pre-sets to domes."
He says the standard should ensure that sites are effectively monitored. Farsight advises clients on how to improve site surveillance, and Bromley reveals: "We've seen one site with a camera with 15 detectors linked to it – that's just sheer madness. If you get a faulty detector, you'll lose coverage of the entire site. The new code says there should be a limit of three detectors to a single dome, which makes far more sense."
One input per camera
Farsight is also pleased with the amendments that have been made to PAS 38. The code now stipulates that there should only be one input per CCTV camera being remotely monitored. "If you've got a 10-camera site, you'll need 10 inputs," says Bromley. "The standard now says one camera, one alarm input."
Bromley says this requirement is vital, because if you have more than one camera reliant on a single input, remote CCTV operators could miss a crucial event. He explains: "Say you've got a cat running around on one camera and a person being attacked on another camera. You might have trouble viewing and reacting to the person being attacked, because the one input is flipping you back to the other camera showing the cat.
"That's the beauty of PAS 38 now [Draft BS 8418] – it says you cannot do this."
The BSIA working group, adds Bromley, have also broadened the scope of the standard in relation to what CCTV systems can comply with PAS 38: "Some of the early drafts seemed manufacturer-specific. Now it is more generic," he says.
Not everyone in the remote monitoring sector has been won round by the revised standard though. David Mackay, director of CCTV consultancy David Mackay Associates, says the BSIA working group has failed to address the fundamentals of visual verification.
Mackay, who managed NTL's CCTV remote monitoring arm until it was sold to Reliance Security Services last year, says: "It's proper that we should have a recognised standard, but the standard needs to be about installation. They've only looked at the equipment side, whereas proper installation is the key. They've missed the point."
Live document
Anyone unhappy with the draft in its current state still has roughly six months to make their views known and influence what shape the full British Standard takes.
In any case, the standard will evolve to keep up with the latest technology, pledges the BSIA. "It is a live document and it will grow," says Una Riley. "The technology is so fast-moving, the standards have to keep up with them, rather than lag behind."
The fast-moving pace of the CCTV market is the main reason why the BSIA chose to
fast-track its code of practice to British Standard status, rather than go the usual route. Adam Wiseberg says: "In the past it would have taken five years. I don't think that would've benefited the industry at all."
Installer impact
Colin Walters, general manager for Remote Video Response (RVR), a leading visual remote monitoring provider, predicts that central monitoring stations will put pressure on installers to install detector-activated remote CCTV systems to the standard.
"We would like to think we're in a position where we can say 'we want you to install to this standard in order for us to monitor the system'," he says. "I am sure insurers will go this way, too."
He reckons the standard will benefit good installers tremendously, but will put an end to "rogue installers out there who install systems that cause loads of false alarms".
Background to the standard
A draft British Standard for the installation and remote monitoring of detector activated CCTV (formerly PAS 38) was published by the British Standards Institution (BSI) on 28 January 2002. The standard has the potential to improve the performance and effectiveness of the technology, says the British Security Industry Association. BS 8418 will be the first standard to cover detector activated CCTV, which is an alternative to continual live monitoring of images. Detector activated systems alert a remote video response centre when an incident occurs (a detector is activated), at which point images of the site can be viewed and appropriate action taken. Some police forces will respond to such an incident, but not all. This is largely because no nationally recognised standards cover the area and so the perception is that false alarm rates could be high. This situation also raises a dilemma for insurers, who need guidance when specifying a system. BS 8418 has been introduced to solve these problems. The BSIA created a code of practice for detector activated CCTV in 2000 and submitted it to the BSI to become a Publicly Available Specification (PAS 38). This is a new ‘fast-track’ standard development programme, which has led to the standard being available for comment, amended and re-issued in a relatively short amount of time. Draft BS 8418 is now available for further comment from all interested parties before it becomes a full British Standard in summer 2002. The deadline for comments is 30 April 2002.Source
Security Installer
Postscript
To obtain a copy of the draft standard (formerly PAS 38), call the BSI on 020-8996 9000. If you wish to comment on the standard, you can send your comments to: Committee Secretary for CCTV Standards, British Standards Institution, 398 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4AL.
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