With the advent of built-in intelligence and edge computing, remote connectivity to intelligent equipment adds value such as virtual asset management, objective data measurement for improved understanding, improved on site safety and improved long-term occupant comfort.
Join Armstrong’s webinar on the ‘Benefits of Remote Connectivity in HVAC Systems and Equipment’ on August 26th, for detailed explanations of how this advanced capability will make a difference to all installations.
Coopers Connect uses state of the art technology to remotely monitor and control the full range of fire and smoke curtains manufactured by Coopers Fire. With Coopers Connect installed, it is programmed to work with the Coopers Fire web portal allowing for secure access to status data and interact with the fire or smoke curtain control panel.
Coopers Connect can be used anywhere in the world through the global GSM/GPRS network that supplies data to the secure Coopers Fire web portal.
WHAT CAN IT MONITOR?
The following information can be monitored:
The Coopers Connect solution reduces downtime and faults, which provides peace of mind that the fire safety equipment is fully operational, ensuring a building and its occupants are protected at all times.
For building owners and fire safety authorities it provides demonstrable evidence that critical life safety systems are being serviced and maintained effectively.
CSL have announced that their DualCom Pro range has been extended to include two new EN54 (Fire) certified products. These variants are available to order now from your chosen ARC. EN54 certification is the most important aspect in terms of signalling for fire detection and alarm systems.
However, the cost of products has always been an issue, with most fire systems having no monitoring at all despite many fires occurring when the premises are empty. DigiAir Pro Fire offers a totally wireless single path solution, whilst GradeShift Pro Fire offers dual path signalling via 2 separate radio modules.
Both solutions come with multiple 4G WorldSIMs, providing the most reliable fire signalling systems ever. The wireless capabilities of DualCom Pro mean that no installation is limited by the infrastructure of the premises, making it easier than ever to provide professional Fire Monitoring.
CSL’s Sales Director, Rob Evans, commented: “Over the past few years CSL has seen an increased industry demand for EN54 (Fire) certified signalling products that offer flexibility of installation, increased reliability and cost-effectiveness. We are confident that all criteria have now been satisfied with the new DualCom Pro Fire products.”
The new VELOX range of 403xx Sounders and Sounder/Flasher reportedly deploy break-through technology superior to anything seem in this sector of the industry before.
The patented VERS (VELOX Energy Recovery System) technology allows the re-direct the kinetic energy of the sounder back to a super-capacitor which allows to save upto 80% of the wasted energy, the result is 3mA power consumption only to power up this device up to 106dBA of sound, and and a flasher that covers 9m x 9m room like no other device in the market.
The lower power consumption allows 133 sounder/flashers to be installed on 4000 range of panels and up to 100 sounder/flashers on 5000 and 6000 range of panels. All powered and connected on the same loop.
The new TYCO® RED-E Cabinet is a pre-assembled, pre-wired, and pretested fire protection valve package enclosed within a free-standing, 14-gauge steel cabinet designed to occupy minimal floor space and provide an enclosure for the fire protection valve riser. The valve package includes the system (manual) shut-off control valve, automatic water control valve, and water-flow/supervisory switches.
The system is also available with an optional built-in air compressor, optional control panel, and back-up batteries for providing electrical alarm, supervisory, and trouble function.
Easy Installation
Efficient Maintenance
Trusted Performance
The Internet of Things (IoT) is expanding the variety of technical capabilities deployed in the interest of public safety, and smart cities are leveraging IoT data to provide insights and improve operations. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is promoting technology development through its Science and Technology Directorate’s SCITI (pronounced “city”) solutions lab. SCITI stands for Smart City and Internet of Things Innovation.
SCITI innovations promote public safety in urban environments to expand capabilities of first responders, including law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services, and the associated commercial sector.
The initiative focuses on integrating new and existing technologies to serve public safety needs, with emphasis on validation and go-to-market support through industry partners. A streamlined process is aimed at getting new capabilities commercialized and available to users.
Supporting First Responders
The program seeks to provide new capabilities to support first responders and the associated commercial sector in three areas. They are:
Autonomous navigation for indoor Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to support search and rescue missions in difficult environments.
Intelligent building sensors to be mounted on fixed indoor building features, such as smoke detectors or exit signs. Sensors provide a mechanism to rapidly prioritize areas for search and rescue.
A body-worn interoperable platform (“SmartHub”) that integrates personal network communications with third-party sensors to improve situational awareness.
Collaborations For Development
DHS Science and Technology is leveraging a “commercial first” approach by working with technology innovation companies, government public safety officials, infrastructure owners and private sector investment partners to promote the design, development and operational testing and evaluation of suitability for commercial adoption. The program has been instrumental in developing and commercializing a number of products.
Improving communication is one area of development. For example, Zello, Austin, Texas, provides a push-to-talk smartphone app that is a low-cost, reliable and secure alternative to traditional radios. Wireless System Solutions, Morrisville, North Carolina, has developed end-to-end multi-standard/band wireless network solutions that provide connectivity from the macro cellular network to the end-point gateway and/or sensor.
Emergency Situational Awareness
To provide situational awareness in an emergency, Known Quantity Sensors Inc., Atlanta, offers an IoT edge sensor platform that uses AI-backed, image-based processing to quantify and locate human occupancy.
CommandWear Systems, Vancouver, British Columbia, provides a simple, secure, mobile situational awareness platform that runs on existing smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, laptops and desktop PC. The system enables users to prepare for events and incidents in advance, know where personnel and assets are, communicate with them securely, and then review and analyze a mission after the fact.
Other solutions promote teamwork and collaboration. Mutualink, Wallingford, Connecticut, connect voice, video and information sources so any agency can talk to and share information with partners on-demand, providing instant emergency collaboration, situational awareness and coordination. Coolfire Solutions, St. Louis, Missouri, provides collaboration software that synchronizes data, content and communications to enable people to work together more effectively.
Artificial Intelligence
Providing automation to operate in an emergency, Airgility, College Park, Maryland, provides multi-mission unmanned aerial vehicles that can conduct search and rescue operations or protect the nation’s borders, including onboard artificial intelligence.
Thirteen companies in all were selected in the first phase of the program, and additional companies were added in Phase II. The SCITI solutions lab was created in collaboration with Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology, TechNexus in Chicago, and Smart City Works venture labs in Washington, D.C.
Work lights are highly powerful, high-lumen industrial lights, akin to floodlights, that are usually fixed to adjustable stands or tripods that allow you to light up large areas. They can also be called light towers, generator lights, scene lights, site lights, spot lights and task lights. They are usually portable and powered through gas or electric generators or they can be cordless work lights powered by rechargeable batteries.
Peli’s work lights (RALS) provide increased performance and safer working conditions. Portability, a long run-time and easy setup makes them ideal for work in dark so you can keep your efforts moving through the night.
“Getting the job done isn’t always a 9 to 5 operation,” said Piero Marigo, Peli Products EMEA Managing Director. “The bottom line is that a properly lit job site is safer and RALS lighting systems provide that.”
Extremely powerful, rechargeable lighting for your work area without the use of cables or generators. With up to 24.000 lumens and a run time that lasts an entire workshift, features include multiple heads, multi-position deployable masts with 360º rotating heads and swappable battery (selected models).
Now it’s easy to light up long stretches of construction sites, rail tracks or tunnels without the hassles of conventional heavyweight light towers. The Peli™ 9600 Linear Light allows you to connect multiple light heads from one power source and eliminates dark spots thanks to the specialist optics.
Although there are still work light bulbs of the halogen, fluorescent and incandescent variety, its more common these days to see LED work lights. LED lighting is very popular for a number of reasons including that they are more cost and energy efficient and produce little to no heat compared to other bulb types. Work lights are an important tool to have on a job site, as they enhance safety and efficiency, allowing the worker to see better, which lessens the possibility of accidents or mishaps.
Work lights aren’t necessarily only useful at night, but can also be handy on overcast days or when working in the shade or in a dark place like a workshop, to help you see exactly what you’re doing. Speaking of who or where one might use a work light, there are many industry and leisure applications for work lights.
EMS professionals and first responders will be able to light up remote areas and emergency scenes in seconds. Fire and rescue professionals as well will need scene lights to ensure they are able to fight fires or secure scenes of an accident.
Work lights will allow for quick deployment of police checkpoints and crime or emergency scenes. Crime scene investigation is another application for work lights, so that coroners and law enforcement can assess scenes in dark or remote areas.
Some other applications for military and police would be field hospitals, command centers, landing zone lighting for helicopters and other aerial vehicles, clean-up operations, walkways and perimeter lighting, sobriety stops and security checkpoints to name just a few.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation has said an explosion last month that damaged the country’s Natanz nuclear facility was the result of “sabotage.”
“Security investigations confirm this was sabotage and what is certain is that an explosion took place in Natanz,” spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Sunday, 23rd August.
“But how this explosion took place and with what materials … will be announced by security officials in due course,” he was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
The Natanz uranium enrichment site, much of which is underground, is one of several Iranian facilities monitored by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog.
Iran’s top security body said after the blast on July 2 that the cause had been determined but would be announced later “for security reasons”. Officials said the incident had caused significant damage that could slow the development of advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges.
Some Iranian officials have previously said the explosion may have been the result of cyber-sabotage, warning that Tehran would retaliate against any country carrying out such attacks.
An article by Iran’s state news agency IRNA in July addressed what it called the possibility of sabotage by enemies such as Israel and the United States, although it stopped short of accusing either directly.
Israeli officials declined to comment on Sunday.
Natanz is the centrepiece of Iran’s enrichment programme, which Tehran says is only for peaceful purposes. Western intelligence agencies and the IAEA believe it had a coordinated, clandestine nuclear arms programme that it halted in 2003.
Tehran denies ever seeking nuclear weapons.
Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the removal of most international sanctions in a deal reached between Tehran and six world powers in 2015.
But Tehran has gradually reduced its commitments to the accord since US President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed and intensified sanctions that have battered Iran’s economy.
The deal only allows Iran to enrich uranium at Natanz facility, with just over 5,000 first-generation IR-1 centrifuges.
On Monday, IAEA head Rafael Mariano Grossi will visit Iran for the first time since taking up the role in December last year.
The IAEA said in a statement Grossi will address Iran’s cooperation with the agency, particularly access for its inspectors to certain sites.
“My objective is that my meetings in Tehran will lead to concrete progress in addressing the outstanding questions that the agency has related to safeguards in Iran and, in particular, to resolve the issue of access,” Grossi said.
“I also hope to establish a fruitful and cooperative channel of direct dialogue with the Iranian government which will be valuable now and in the future.”
Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council has reportedly ‘abandoned’ a £75m fire safety construction contract after ‘mistakes’ in its tender documents meant it ‘would not have been able to fairly evaluate bids’.
The in depth nature of the contract would have seen a winning contractor carry out a ‘wide range of general ad-hoc construction work including some complex high-value voids’ over five years, with the possibility of extending this for another two.
The specific fire safety remediation work meanwhile would have included fitting fire doors, sprinklers, and fire alarm and detection systems, alongside ‘general repair and maintenance’, and the original contract stated it would begin at the start of August. However, the council revealed last week that it had ‘abandoned the process’, after it became ‘apparent that the pricing tables included for the tender stage were not sufficiently clear or structured’.
According to the council, this meant that bidders for the work ‘could not understand how to price their submissions’, and that they had ‘different interpretations of the methodology involved’, meaning that ‘proposals submitted could not fairly be evaluated’. In turn, the council ‘could not assess’ if tenders had met its ‘high quality standards’.
Its notice added in turn that ‘as a result […] and in accordance with the tender documents as issued, the council has made a decision to exercise their discretion to not award the contract and to abandon the tender process’. The news outlet noted that the council’s website has a fire safety page on which leader Stephen Cowan refers to the Grenfell Tower fire, and says that his council’s programme – H&F Fire Safety Plus – would go ‘above and beyond what is required’ by regulations.
This would include a ‘massive programme of works’ to replace fire doors and appliances, as well as ‘address other residents’ fire safety concerns’. When asked how the error was made, how much it cost and what the effect would be – as well as whether a new procurement process would begin – a spokesperson said that the tender would be reissued ‘very shortly’.
He added: ‘We are committed to ensuring we offer the best services for residents. Some errors were identified in the initial procurement process. This will have no impact on our Fire Safety Plus programme, nor any detriment to our residents’ safety, which is always our number one priority.’
Mr Mark Hardingham will become chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) from 1 April 2021, succeeding Roy Wilsher, who has held the post since April 2017 and the NFCC’s formation.
In a press release, the FCC stated that Mr Hardingham – currently chief fire officer for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, and chair of NFCC’s protection and business safety committee – will take over as chair in April next year for an ‘initial two-year period’. He will succeed Mr Wilsher, who has been chair since the NFCC was formed in April 2017.
NFCC board of trustees chair Teresa Budworth stated: ‘Firstly, I would like to thank Roy for his dedication and hard work for NFCC. Under his leadership, NFCC has achieved so much in a relatively short period of time. It is testament to Roy that NFCC has established a pivotal role in advising government and supporting fire and rescue services [FRSs] across the UK, while implementing national policy and delivering critical national workstreams.
‘NFCC was formed only two-and-a-half months before the tragic Grenfell Tower fire. Roy offered the sector and government outstanding help and guidance, during a very demanding period. His membership on the government’s expert panel and now as chair of the protection board has been pivotal in making change for the better.
‘It is a credit to his leadership that the NFCC is in the strong position it is today ensuring fire is on the front foot and able to continue to protect our communities with excellence. I would like to give him my sincere thanks. I would also like to welcome Mark to the role of NFCC chair. He brings with him a wealth of experience, especially with his protection role and his tireless work on a new building safety framework.
‘I am sure NFCC will continue to go from strength-to-strength under his leadership.’
Mr Wilsher added: ‘It has been an honour to serve as NFCC’s inaugural chair since 2017 and I will continue to do my best for the council over the coming months. I have always said a key success factor for my tenure would be the appointment of a second NFCC chair. NFCC is now an influential organisation, based on our technical expertise, professional knowledge and relationships. It is well-established and respected, and I have set sound policy and financial foundations for the future.
‘I will continue to move NFCC forward on its journey until Mark takes on the role in April 2021. We have seen big changes since NFCC was introduced and I am proud of these achievements. To lead the fire sector through – at times — a profoundly difficult time and to be instrumental in implementing changes for the better, has been a privilege.
‘I would like to wish Mark the very best for when he takes on the role of NFCC chair. I am in no doubt he will build on what is already in place and NFCC will continue on its journey and achieve many more successes.’
Mr Hardingham commented: ‘I am delighted and excited to be taking on the role of NFCC chair in 2021. I have worked closely with Roy throughout his tenure and seen first-hand his commitment and dedication to establishing the NFCC as the trusted and respected professional voice of UK FRSs.I look forward to working with my chief fire officer colleagues and the wider NFCC membership and staff as we approach the challenges and opportunities throughout my term.’