Sand, sea & digital CCTV

FROM A TOURIST PERSPECTIVE, WALES is definitely the "big country". It's a great holiday destination, big on castles, mountains and surf but when it comes to business, what's it like being a security installer here? Certainly not a holiday camp! I often find myself deliberating over which route I should take when going on an install, as there are many different routes that can lead you to the same destination. The general problem is that most roads are single carriageways and you can often find yourself sitting patiently behind a tractor or lorry eagerly waiting for a place to pass!

In the summer things get a little more hectic when the groccle boxes arrive in their droves (sorry campers!), but even this is a far cry from the stresses you are likely to encounter on the M25 or M6.

The Welsh may appear to take life in the slow lane, but when it comes to security and CCTV, they are extremely savvy and are becoming much more aware of the benefits of digital technology over traditional methods. The Welsh will always be cost-conscious when making a buying decision, so when talking security with a new prospect don't be surprised if you have to do a little friendly haggling.

However the good thing is that once your Welsh brethren reach a buying decision it often results in more business. This can emerge as product upgrades or a recommendation to other clients (the Welsh prefer to do business with those they know and trust), which helps to provide a steady and healthy flow of new business, and is integral to securing new product sales for Dyfed Alarms.

For the intrepid installer Wales can also have its pitfalls. For one thing, you can never be sure of the weather, and getting a signal for your mobile phone can be very frustrating.

To succeed you really do need to be organised before going out on site, as once you're on the road it's unlikely you'll be able to phone the office, especially if the site is off the beaten track.

   Wellies and waterproofs are a must, and it's definitely worth checking you have all the tools for the job – a flask of coffee and a shovel comes in handy, as you may have to get your hands dirty, from digging trenches to laying ducting or cables.

However, to really give you a feel for a typical install over here, let me explain an example at Trefigin Quarry, which is a one-hour drive from our offices in Johnstown, Carmarthen.

Granville John, an existing client and the owner of the quarry, already had a security alarm system, which had previously been recommended and fitted by us. Although originally it had met his security needs for the quarry, he realised a more comprehensive security solution was required to aid health and safety and monitor traffic coming in and out of the site.

The quarry is primarily sand and gravel with an oil distribution subsidiary but also has a ready mixed concrete block making plant and a cement silo. It serves many local businesses, and is very busy with dozens of lorries coming in and out each day. There is also a crushing plant for large rocks, and although the safety record at the quarry has been excellent, Granville John was concerned that this posed a potential risk to employee safety and also needed to be monitored for maintenance.

It was not unusual for rocks to get lodged in the crusher, causing damage to the plant and productivity downtime. This was expensive in terms of business interruption, maintenance and repair costs. So having a security solution that could monitor this and other areas of the quarry could help to prevent these incidents.

On top of the silo it was a bit windy, but the views of the Irish Sea and surrounding countryside were breathtaking and I realised how lucky I was to do this job in Wales

Having surveyed the plant and investigated the quarry's needs, I recommended he consider the DTS professional line (which could support up to 16 cameras) from specialist security and surveillance manufacturer Videte IT. Our supplier Westfalen can be relied on for good technical back up. The DTS had all the features he needed and was also capable of being expanded later. The DTS can display and record live images, and play back archived images simultaneously. Every image is stored onto the PC hard drive into digital format in real-time and the Motion Detect feature enables automatic recording of significant events.

Images can be retrieved by cameras, date, time and alarm or frame and search results can subseq-uently be archived to CD or DVD. I priced up the job, which was approved, and then set plans in motion for the install. Shovel to the ready, I arrived on site the first day to be welcomed by rain. The plan was to fix the cameras to give a good vantage point. The best place was the cement silo.

I had recommended four static Vantage cam-eras and one Philips Envirodome camera, which could be operated by a joystick. This ensured the quarry could be monitored from all angles.

Having checked the specification for the ducting route, with necessary materials to hand, I rolled up my sleeves and got digging the 100 metres from the main office to the cement silo. The cables had to be routed up the side of the silo, which was around 60 feet – a bit daunting if you don't like heights! For protection and longevity the cables were housed in steel boxing and then attached to the silo via brackets.

In readiness for the install, Granville John had arranged for one of his engineers to rig up a goalpost-like structure to sit on the top of the silo, and this was to form a secure base for attaching the five cameras.

Once on top of the silo it was a bit windy, but the views of the Irish Sea and surrounding countryside were breath-taking and I realised how lucky I was to be doing this kind of job in Wales. I secured the four fixed static camera housings to the goalpost, all at different angles, with the Philips Envirodome in the centre so it could have a 'bird's eye' view of the whole quarry.

The next job was to fit and focus all the cameras. One camera was focused on the concrete block plant, one monitoring oil distribution, one to record visiting traffic and the last viewing the weighbridge and office. The Philips Envirodome camera was programmed with presets and Auto tours to cover all the vital areas. After fitting the cameras, I was particularly concerned about maintenance as there was a lot of cement dust around, which might inhibit the clarity of the images. I therefore recommended to Mr John that he got the lenses cleaned and checked on a regular basis.

The DTS unit was placed in the main office underneath a desk, where it was safe and out of sight. The great thing about the DTS is that it truly is a plug-and-play solution, which is great as it is extremely easy to install. The total DTS installation at Trefigin Quarry took about one hour. Also, as the solution is PC-based it is very user friendly and reliable. Granville John particularly likes the PTZ facility, and has found the picture quality to be "superb". The level of recording is also important for his business, and when I recently spoke to him he had 30 days of quality playback stored.

The total install took around five days, as I did come back and forth a few times, but this is nor-mal when you have such an exposed site as this. This can result in the need to re-test, tweak and re-set so everything meets the client's requirements.