KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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comments on NFPA codes / on property manager who didn't like alarm contract terms / taxes and Trump
August 24, 2017
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comments on NFPA codes from article on August 17, 2017
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Ken,
    The fire alarm business is extremely complex with a huge exposure to liability.  The thing that make it complex is not the technology, it’s the codes.
    Many look at the codes as something to avoid and work around.  I look at the codes as my friend, and make it a practice to sit through several code presentations every year.  If I can cite a code reference for EVERYTHING that I do, I may not be immune from liability, but it sure makes me defensible.  Good contracts are the final step in managing the liability, but they can only be truly effective if you have both feet on the ground with solid and approved practices.
    I truly amazes me how people that think that because they have installed a few wireless burglar alarms are now qualified to take on even the smallest of systems in this highly regulated business.
Ken Webster
NICET Level IV – Fire Alarm
Webster Fire Protection, LLC
208 S Academy Ave, Suite 110
Eagle, ID 83616
www.websterfireprotection.com
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Response
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    I cannot emphasize how right you are.  Fire is very different than intrusion alarms.  Of course there are many types of alarm services that involve life safety and expose an alarm company to tremendous liability, but with fire it's a given; you are taking on an enormous responsibility and the exposure is concomitant with that responsibility.  "Just throw up a smoke and hook it into the alarm system".   Really?  Was that the smoke detector in the building that just burned down?  taking lives?  damaging adjoining buildings?  The potential loss exceeding your insurance coverage by many millions?
    If you do fire, residential but especially commercial, be certain you are
  • properly trained
  • have adequate insurance - alarm E&O
  • use the Fire All in One - for every job
  • insist on code compliant installations and services - don't let your subscriber bully you into doing sub-standard work, installing systems that are non-compliant, refusing inspections, repairs or suitable communication pathways for monitoring.  
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comment on property manager who didn't like alarm contract terms from July 12, 2017
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Ken
    This is great news!  Everyone’s effort pushing back against their standard contracts, pressing for our T&C is causing them (and hopefully the Property Management  industry) some pain.  This should make it easier to negotiate with them.
Thank you,
Rob Driscoll | Director, Business Integration
KOORSEN FIRE & SECURITY
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Response
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    For those who missed it, the prior article concerned complaints by a property manager in California who couldn't find an alarm company willing to change its contract in a meaningful way and he didn't like all the "protective" provisions.  I assured him that only reputable alarm companies would insist on using the proper contract and not making too many changes [the ones he wanted].
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taxes and Trump
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Ken
    Comment on tax and Trump. Property tax something Trump is familiar with should be eliminated. Many families were thrown out of their house by government tax foreclosure when they lost jobs and could not pay the outrageous high property tax. You are not leasing your house from the government. You bought it and paid mortgage your whole life. 
    Government is a bunch of leaches living on public money, trying to find new ways to tax working people. They're trying to figure out how to tax internet sales. They want to kill our economy forcing businesses to waste time filling out confusing forms. If they were smart, they would make China sell through American companies - not on the internet direct to consumers where nobody pays tax. American companies would hire lot of employees to process the billions of dollars worth of merchandise. The jobs would eliminate unemployment, the employees would pay income tax and when they spend money they would pay sales tax. Government would rake billions of dollars with thumb up their ... We just need government with brain. 
Dusan 
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Response
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    Yes, the forum is for alarm industry issues, but I couldn't pass up hearing from Dusan, a former regular contributor to this forum and long time in the alarm industry.  
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
516 747 6700
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com