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Question
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The following question was asked by a central station - see UL's answer below:
Is the central station "allowed" to place a commercial fire account on test, or
disregard signals, for more than 8 hours if requested by the customer? Does issuance
(or non-issuance) of a UL certificate affect anything in this regard?
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Answer
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Good question, many areas of the Code impact the answer. Hopefully the following
will help.
1. A central station system is one that complies with 26.3.3. This
means the testing and maintenance is done by the central station company that has
the contract with the subscriber. The most common way this is done is either with a
"full service" central station (26.3.3 (1)) or a "listed alarm-service company"
(26.3.3 (3)).
2. All central station systems are required to be under a "systematic
follow-up program under the control of the organization that has listed the prime
contractor." (26.3.4). Traditionally the indication of such follow-up programs has
been the issuance of a certificate or placard.
3. 26.3.7.5.6 requires the system to be placed on test by a service
tech or the subscriber with the use of a personal identification code. So a central
station system can be placed on test by the subscriber, but the testing and
maintenance is done by a technician (26.3.2).
4. 26.3.7.5.3 requires the immediate investigation of test signals that
have not been received. Thus if a system has been placed on test and no test signals
are received the central station should contact the property to find out what
happened. In the Appendix this described as being within
4 minutes. However since the Appendix is not enforceable as part of the Code, the
actual time may vary a bit.
5. 26.3.7.5.3 also requires "action shall be taken to reestablish
system integrity." This may result is a service technician being sent to reset the
system if needed. It also brings in 26.3.7.4 because the system in now in trouble.
6. Based on this trouble condition the central station is obligated to
contact the subscriber if the system is not restored in 8 hours and, where the AHJ
has required it, the serving fire department (26.3.7.4 (3)).
7. With regards to the other Mark's question about placing a system on test for 8
hours then taking it off test and then placing it back on test, which certainly
could be done. However, if test signals are not being received item 4 above would
apply.
Regards,
Pete Tallman, CET
Alarm Certificate Service
NICET III (Cert. #77727)
UL LLC
Melville, NY 11747
ul.com
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