Whether you’re running a large warehouse or simply own a house with a few smoke alarms, chances are you’ve neglected maintenance from time to time.

This is a huge “no-no”. Any lack of regular testing and maintenance of safety devices could become a major headache should an incident arise. This is especially true for commercial buildings or for rental properties.

There is an impressive range of connected devices these days that will alert you to any faults or maintenance requirements.

If you are a landlord or a manager of any commercial property these devices are a “game changer”.
You’ll no longer be in the dark about faulty devices and lack of maintenance.
Having a connected system of safety devices will give you control and peace of mind.

So let’s delve in to some of these new products that are changing the market…

Connected Smoke Alarms

What happens when a smoke alarm battery runs low? It starts beeping and drives you crazy.
Sensible people change the battery.
Most people just rip the thing off the roof.

This is ESPECIALLY true in rental situations. I’ve done jobs in share houses where every single smoke alarm was ripped down off the roof.
This is often because tenants want to be able to smoke without setting off the alarm.

This is the sort of thing that keeps landlords awake at night.

Enter…the Nest Protect Smoke Detector…

Here are some of the awesome features of the Nest Protect:

• Wifi connection to securely send alerts to your phone
• Bluetooth LE allows you to silence alarms with your phone
• Warnings before an alarm! Nest Protect gives you a friendly warning if there’s a faint level of smoke before going in to alarm.

This allows you to deal with the early morning burnt toast before waking up the whole household.

 

• Night light: as if this smoke detector wasn’t already cool enough it provides a soft light to illuminate passageways at night time. You can adjust the brightness off this light or turn it off completely through your phone.

The Nest Protect retails for around $189.
They need to be installed by a qualified electrician.

Other “connected” smoke detectors include:

• Fibaro Smoke Sensor
• Honeywell Smart Fire Alarm

Emergency Lighting Maintenance

In today’s connected world, emergency lighting log books are still stuck in the Dark Ages. Almost all logs are done on paper, with a log book stuffed in some filing cabinet to be forgotten about until Work Safe does a random inspection.

There’s got to be a better way! Fortunately there is.

I’ve recently being using the Clever Sparky app by Clevertronics

This killer app is the first good attempt I’ve seen to move emergency lighting maintenance records to a mobile app.
So how good is it? I’d give it a solid 8 out of 10.
The pros of the app are:

1. It actuall works
2. It’s very detailed (very important)
3. It produces neat and professional looking log records

 

The cons:

1. No automatic reminder system that can send text messages when your 6 monthly testing is due
2. Takes ages to fill in all the details on the app. In fact it’s probably faster just using a paper log book

So I’d strongly recommend if you’re a manager that you insist that your electrician start moving records over to the Clever Sparky app (or other electronic methods).

You can easily lose or damage a paper logbook. An electronic log stored in the cloud will never be lost and it’s a great way to run your business.

Conclusion: Having your safety systems connected via the interenet to your phone keeps you on the front foot with keeping your workplace compliant and safe. It gives you peace of mind and control, knowing what’s going on at all times.

These new devices and systems are a game changer in the safety industry. It’s time to get on board!

For more details please contact:

Ryan Curwen-Walker
0420 654 383
ryan@cwelecautomation.com.au