KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE You can read all of our articles on our website. Having trouble getting our emails? Change your spam controls and whitelist ken@kirschenbaumesq.com ********************** Change in central station procedure for reporting trouble signals November 21, 2023 ************************* Change in central station procedure for reporting trouble signals ************************* Ken, Below you will see an excerpt from an email we received recently from our Central Station regarding a policy change they are making as to responding to low batteries from our customers. I want to get your opinion and maybe put this on your forum to get a response of what other people are experiencing with their Central Station. We feel this could or will create a liability for our company. An example would be a customer’s second home and not being at the site everyday; they could have a low battery on a smoke detector and not be notified of this and of course a fire happens and the smoke is dead. The same could be true for commercial fire alarm systems. Please let me know your thoughts. Please keep me, Anonymous ***** “As technology continues to change, we are seeing a sharp increase in Transmitter Battery Trouble conditions. Over the past 18 months we have been reviewing these notifications. What we have found is that an overwhelming majority of customers that receive calls from us have already been notified of the condition from their providers such as Alarmnet or Alarm.com. To increase the efficiency of notification of high priority signals we will be treating these conditions as a no call event (Log Only). If there are specific customers that you would want to receive a notification of these events then we will need to have them receive these communications via an e-mail or text. This policy will begin on 12/1/23. If you would like to receive a report of the accounts that are communicating Transmitter Battery Trouble (XT) events before that to review please let data entry know” **************************** Response *************************** It will come as no surprise that a good number of the defense cases I have handled for alarm companies, defending subscriber claims when a loss occurs, involve failure to communicate trouble signals. Trouble signal would be low battery, loss of electric or communication and perhaps other conditions. Some of the trouble conditions go fixed for years. Even when an initial trouble signal is communicated it isn’t that uncommon for the central station to stop reporting the multiple trouble condition. Central stations, and dealers by extension, are of course free to design their own procedure policy for reporting signals. The subscriber should be bound by contract to accept the standard operating procedures of the central station, and in fact the Monitoring Provision in the Kirschenbaum Contracts™ provides that the central station has standard procedures it will follow; the subscriber is invited to request a copy of the procedure so how signals are responded to is not a mystery or secret. I think that most central stations will follow monitoring procedures established by NRTL guidelines and in some cases local law which may prescribe numbers to contact or verification procedures or use of permit numbers, etc. A change in procedure does require informing your subscriber. As long as your subscriber knows and consents to the central station responding policy, expressly or implicitly, there should be no added liability. A central station may be challenged on why it choose a particular procedure if it departs from NRTL guidelines. As an alarm subscriber I want to be notified of trouble and all signals. Your central station is offering to continue that procedure on an opt-in basis, which presumably you can do for all your accounts. Others are welcome to share their opinion. ************************** WEBINAR SERIES: All webinars should be posted by now so if you missed the software or central station webinars you can watch them on the K&K website here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-webinars **************************** STANDARD FORM AGREEMENTS: To order up to date Standard Form Alarm / Security / Fire and related Agreements click here: www.alarmcontracts.com *************************** CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY - You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304. *********************** WEBINARS:https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-webinars *********************** ALARM ARTICLES: You can always read our Articles on our website at www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-articles updated daily ************************* THE ALARM EXCHANGE - the alarm industries leading classified and business exchange - updated daily. https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-exchange ************************* Wondering how much your alarm company is worth? Click here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/what-is-my-alarm-company-worth ****************************** Getting on our email list / Articles archived: Many of you are forwarding these emails to friends or asking that others be added to the list. Sign up for our daily newsletter here: Sign Up. ************************** 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 www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
