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Question
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Hi Ken,
Great forum !
Here is a different type of a problem.
Installed an alarm in a wearhouse consisting of 4 doors and one motion detector, monitored by a central station through GSM radio. Owner does not arm the system. At 2 am central office receives a signal "low battery " and at 2.30 am reports power loss. Central office sends me this information by Email.
I see the Email in the morning , then I found out that there was a fire about the time of the power loss. Fire started in a trash can from used rags saturated with paint. The question is how much responsibility I have in notifying the owner immediately since this info came in by Email and not directly by phone.
Thank you
GKK
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Response
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You apparently missed my article on September 27, 2013 [part of which is below].
In your case you apparently installed an intrusion system, not fire. Hopefully you are using the Commercial All in One, in which case you will be covered. In fact the latest upgrade to that contract does address communication to the subscriber, though it's really a central station issue whether they report power loss to the subscriber, the dealer, how and when. Since you have agreed to provide the monitoring, though through a designated central station, you should know, and your contract should address, when and how you are going to communicate with your subscriber. WIthout specific contractual terms you will have to fall back on industry custom and standards, which will be a battle of the "experts", with each side of the ligitation buying the testimony they want. Easier and smarter to address the issues in the first instance in the contract.
You didn't contract to monitor for fire; I don't see any liability on your part. If this was a fire alarm system your central station probably has other procedures in place to notify the AHJ, as required after a certain period of time of power loss, or the subscriber.
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From Sept 27, 2013
Should you care how your central station handles power loss signals? Communication line failure? Do central stations handle these signals differently?
You should care because you are the dealer contracting with your subscriber for central office monitoring. You've made the pitch for monitoring and it's your Monitoring Contract [should be part of the All in One] that creates the monitoring duty. The contract should describe what you, or your designated monitoring center, will do upon receipt of signals. Perhaps you can't describe all the different signals with specificity [you could but that detail may not be necessary in the contract] in the contract, but your central station should have written policy how it handles the various signals.
Central stations recently discussed how they handle power failure. With fire alarm signals the protocal is to dispatch. That would apply to power or communication failure signals. But what about other types of alarms, such as intrusion or environmental, and is there a different response for commercial and residential?
Ask your central station for its signal response policy. You should be familiar with it when you pitch your subscribers for monitoring. All of the Standard Form All in One contracts provide the protection you need for monitoring - be sure to get those contracts and keep them updated.
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