May 13, 2011

 

******************

***************

Question

*************

Hi Mr. Kirschenbaum,

I hope that you are doing well. We very much enjoy your e-mail newsletter. I am not sure if this is the best way to submit a question for your review or not but weÂ’ll give it a go.

My questions is one of liability and ethics. Let me explain, we took over a group of college dorm facilities because the customer was not satisfied with the service being provided. We got a contract signed and we got the communication switched to our Central Station. We tested all of the devices and made sure that all signals were received and identified properly. After the fact, we discovered that there was no end of the line supervision being provided. I identified this fact to the original installing company which felt no obligation to correct the trouble; further, I provided a written statement to the security director at the college explaining how this could possibly cause a failure in the future should a circuit become damaged. Ethically, have I done my duty or do you feel that I may be liable should something happen and I have not informed the authority have jurisdiction?

I have another situation where I was contracted to replace a defective fire alarm / access control panel and to take over the monitoring. After replacing the panel, in checking to make sure everything was working properly I discovered that on the fire alarm portion there were NO notification appliances. I identified this fact to the customer both in person and in writing; do I have future liability should something negative happen and should I notify the authority having jurisdiction of my findings?

Thanks so much,

Kirby

***************

Answer

***************

If you take over a system you inherit all of the problems. You need to inspect the system and let the subscriber know of any deficiencies or defects. If you are monitoring fire or any other system that is subject to AHJ jurisdiction then you need to notify the AHJ if that is one of its requirements. It's not likely that notifying the prior alarm company who lost the account is going to get much reaction from them.

The replacement of a fire alarm system probably required AHJ involvement, and that means that you need to notify the AHJ that the system has deficiencies. Then it's up to the AHJ to require the subscriber to make repairs or changes.

Better to be safe than sorry. If you take over a system it's not enough to think that any mistakes that the prior alarm company made won't subject you to exposure. Too often it's not possible to pin point when an alarm system didn't perform as expected and then everyone involved is sued.