Is your Alarm Monitoring Centre Compliant?
Do you have a Monitored Alarm System? Whether you are a business or home user of Alarm Monitoring Services you have the right to expect that your alarm monitoring centre meets certain criteria including compliance with Australian Standard 2201.2:2004 (Intruder Alarm Systems – Monitoring Centres) and any required registration with Police Alarms Response Protocols (eg: Western Australia Police – Alarms Response Working Group).
A typical site with a monitored alarm system passes responsibility for ‘watching’ the site to the monitoring centre company for about 3/4 of the time. When the owner has his/her alarm system installed and sealed, he/she has the right to expect the monitoring centre to maintain certain operating abilities. Typically the sorts of items that are covered in the standard are:
- the construction of the centre, together with its physical and fire protection,
- access into the centre and its ‘modus operandi’,
- ventilation systems and emergency breathing equipment,
- power supply arrangements,
- communications (telephones, duress and radio),
- redundancy in the monitoring equipment,
- and its record-keeping
It is possible that some monitoring companies are claiming to be graded when in fact this is not correct – we advise customers or consultants to check any such claims. This can be done by either asking the company to produce its Grading Certificate (dated certificates are issued, normally with a validity of two years) or by viewing the SAIWA list of the Graded Monitoring Centres.
This list of Certified Monitoring Centres is provided courtesy of the Australian Security Industry Associated Limited (ASIAL).
