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Reduce False AlarmsDO NOT DELETE
False alarms cost businesses a substantial amount of money every year.
You can take several steps to reduce false alarms. The first is to identify the causes of your false alarms. For businesses, some of the most common incidences are due to:
- Not following daily opening and closing procedures
- Employee error
- Public and vendor access to your facilities
- Working with multiple suppliers and service providers
- Janitorial staff not following procedures
- Faulty equipment
- Acts of nature (strong winds, electrical storms, etc.)
False alarms due to faulty equipment or acts of nature are rare. The vast majority are due to human error.
Once the causes are identified, some basic steps should be taken to help reduce false alarms:
- Make sure that all alarm users have been trained on the alarms system.
- Hold regularly scheduled training sessions to ensure all users are aware of any changes to the system (e.g., pass codes etc)
- Be aware of holiday-related false alarms which may be due to untrained seasonal or temporary help or carelessness due to long hours or office parties
- Move hanging objects away from motion detectors
- Ensure all doors and windows are secure and locked prior to arming the system
- If there is a doubt as to whether or not the system is working properly, immediately contact the security provider to check the status of the system and the related devices.
- Service and maintain the system regularly (including batteries) before false alarms occur
- Upgrade old alarm systems
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