We recently heard a funny story from an Essex business owner who has a monitored alarm system in her co-working office space. We thought we’d share the story with you to educate you on the features and benefits of having a monitored alarm system.
The Man In The Ceiling
Jaime Lawson is an Essex business owner who manages a co-working office space in Leigh-On-Sea. She wanted to provide her new property and the people working in it with a moderate level of security, so she had CCTV and a monitored alarm system installed.
The space is filled with a variety of people who work in different industries and come and go as they please.
One morning, a trader named Glen who worked at the office space decided to make an early start and unlock at 6:30am. He unlocked the door and heard the faint beeping from the alarm system that was signalling the 30 second timer to tap in the code before the alarm would be activated.
His mind went blank and he couldn’t remember the code to save his life! Shortly after tapping in any number in the hope it might unlock, the alarm was activated and the whole street knew about it…
In a panic, he reached for his mobile phone to contact Jaime, the business owner, and ask for the alarm code. Suddenly, from nowhere, he heard a man’s voice.
“IDENTIFY YOURSELF!” it said in a stern manner.
Glen was startled. He looked around and couldn’t see anyone around!
“Who’s there?!” said Glen
“This is Tim from the alarm monitoring centre. Please identify yourself.” Tim repeated
Glen sighed with relief and shouted over the activated alarm “I’m Glen and I work here. I forgot the alarm code!”
“In that case, you should know the emergency password.” Tim said
Glen thought for a moment and suddenly it came to him…
“Bananas!” he shouted (We have not included the real password)
With that, the alarm was disabled and the deafening howls stopped.
How do monitored intruder alarms work?
There are two basic types of alarm systems; audible only and monitored.
An audible only alarm relies on good Samaritans taking action when they hear the alarm going off.
A monitored business alarm system guarantees a response to any activation and can be dealt with according to any procedures you put in place.
There are different levels of security monitoring all the way from the most basic, to the monitoring centre informing the police. Read our blog post “Alarm Monitoring Options Explained” for more detail on this.
The benefit of choosing an NSI Gold approved installer means that, if activated, the alarm will call a 24hr NSI Gold receiving centre who can deal with the alarm accordingly.
In Jaime’s case, she set up a procedure whereby the alarm monitoring company can use the alarm’s audio feature to speak to anyone in the building and find out whether it is a false alarm, or a true threat.
From there, they contacted Jaime to let her know what was going on, as she had received an instant mobile alert that the alarm had been activated. And, if it happened to be a real burglary, the police would have been contacted immediately.
However, in this case, a safe word was set up so that the ‘intruder’ could be identified as an authorised person.
You can even set up panic codes with your monitoring company so that, in a dangerous or stressful situation, you can set the alarm and signal to the monitoring company that you are in trouble and need immediate police response.
The advantages of a monitored alarm system
- Monitored alarm systems are never ignored
- They lead to lower business insurance premiums because having an alarm system decreases the risk of burglary
- You can integrate smoke detectors with your alarm system so that, in the case of a fire, the receiving centre will be alerted instantly and the fire brigade can be called.
- You can assign multiple key-holders for the receiving centre to contact when the alarm has been activated.
Given the small additional charge for a monitored system, the advantages to your business far outweigh the cost. The additional cost could even be covered by the savings you will receive on your insurance premium!
Have 100% peace of mind by choosing Guardian Security & Fire
As an NSI Gold approved company, we can offer monitored alarm systems with police response; something an unaccredited company cannot provide.
Our monitoring station oversees alarm systems for business owners in Canterbury, Kent, London and across the South East. And, yes, we are able to monitor alarms that were installed by other suppliers.
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