January 9, 2012
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Comment
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Ken,
I think it is past time for you to design and write a monitoring contract specifically for elevator monitoring. taking and changing any other monitoring contract, to make that square peg fit into that round hole, does not make sense in this business. we, as an industry, are specialists in what we do and deserve a contract to protect us as much as possible. if someone gets trapped, hurt or maybe dies, the lawsuits will fly and anybody and everybody who ever set foot in that elevator gets caught up in it. Please get going on this one and i will be one of the first to sign up to purchase it. Thanks for all the past and future info you have given us throughout the years.
Ralph Aiello
ESS, LLC
Massachusetts
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Response
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Elevator monitoring is different than most alarm monitoring. Closer to PERS monitoring. At least that is what I am piecing together. I have prepared an Elevator Contract and it is now available as a Standard Form Contract. If you provide this service you should get the Elevator Monitoring Contract. Central stations need to prepare written protocol for handling elevator monitoring. The protocol must comply with local AHJ requirements. Representing that operators have been properly trained to handle life safety emergency situations that may arise in an elevator is fine, but the central station should be certain that there is evidence of the training, and that starts with a training manual or reference to standards established by a regulatory agency [as I write this I am not aware of any - I don't know if UL, ETL or any other reputable regulatory agency has elevator monitoring guidelines]
The alarm company does not provide any equipment and does no service on the elevator or its components. The actual telephone or communication device is installed by others. The only at site service provided is to connect the communication device in the elevator to the communication pathway, which could be a RJ31x jack for POTS or any other communication pathway acceptable to the AHJ [ such as VoIP, radio or cellular]. That connection is the only service the Installing alarm company is doing, other than billing monthly for the monitoring service. The telephone communication will be initiated by a single call button that automatically calls a toll free number. The central station will have to have caller id that permits the operator to identify the location of the phone [in case the emergency situation prohibits the caller from speaking]. Each elevator requires its own account number so it is immediately identifiably. The operator will need to be trained in life safety issues and have the knowledge to discern which emergency response service to call. Staying in communication with the elevator during the emergency is also the responsibility of the operator. The communication pathway must be 24 hours and may require redundancy.
Monitoring service is provided by the central station [either wholesale central or the installing company's in house central station]. Obviously the central station has to have a protocol for elevator monitoring and has to train its operators accordingly. So once you get the call from your subscriber to provide the monitoring you have to find a central station that is willing to and knows how to monitor elevators. I am sure the major players in the wholesale monitoring business all provide this service, and all are welcome to let us know who they are and how they handle the monitoring service, including cost of monitoring.
At least one web site I checked also monitored lift performance and safety data for the elevator, communicating that information directly to the elevator service company [not the alarm company].
To try and get a better understanding of the need for a new contract I asked Eric Wahrsager or Nationwide Digital Monitoring to answer a few basic questions. Here is the exchange:
Question
Why does the alarm industry need an elevator contract?
Answer
The primary reason is that there is a liability associated with elevator monitoring and therefore you need a contract that limits that liability. Additionally you need a document that sets forth the terms and conditions the alarm company and the subscriber are going to operate under, and the compensation structure for such services. One such example of a term the elevator monitoring contract would have is a provision similar to a standard alarm monitoring contracts which requires the subscriber to provide phone lines to communicate with the central station.
Question
Why is that security work?
Answer
I would classify it as "life safety system work" similar to PERS, as you could have someone trapped in the elevator in need of assistance.
Question
Isn't this really answering service work?
Answer
No an answering service just takes messages, elevator monitoring again is life safety system where a person could be trapped in an elevator and you need operators who are used to handling customers in distress and who can properly notify and dispatch the authorities as well follow other protocols such as notifying the building maintenance company or on site super etc. An answering service would simply take a message that a person was stuck what good is that you need a dispatch organization to notify the authorities and other parties of interest..
Question
Is Nationwide equipped to handle elevator monitoring?
Answer
Absolutely - Elevator monitoring is one of many ancillary services offered by Nationwide to its dealers in an effort to help its dealers realize additional RMR streams.