Re: An ethical conundrum... Opinions welcome!

["Bill" <billnomailnospamx@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Frank Olson"  wrote in message
>
> ..Should any professional alarm dealer even offer to monitor a fire alarm
> system without a daily test signal?  I shudder to think of the possible
> liability issues involved...
>

The building owners/management are going to choose the least costly route.
Only what the insurance company or fire department requires and nothing
more. They are in business to make a profit.

The alarm company and monitoring company are not going to give away services
for free. They are in business to make a profit.

Seems to me the building owner should have the minimum system installed and
perform minimum required service/testing on that system. And have the
paperwork to prove they did this. Then they can say they did what was
required.

And I think the alarm company should have documentation that they installed
and tested what the customer wanted. And offer additional testing services.
If the customer refuses these services, it should be well documented. Same
with the monitoring company.

Then the burden would be with the insurance company and fire department.

The insurance companies can take care of themselves, however fire
departments are not known to be meccas of highly intelligent types...

So if an alarm company sees an unsafe situation which could cause loss of
life due to an alarm not functioning properly, I think it would be the
"right thing to do", to educate the fire department as to these defects in
the local codes and help them change them, so safe systems are required.
i.e. Make it a requirement that fire systems for high-rises must be tested
daily or have a monitored line.

Then the building owners would do this because it would be a minimum
requirement. (And if they want something less than that, refuse to do
business with them.)

And if you correspond with the fire department asking that this be made a
requirement, be sure to do this in writing and save your documentation. Then
you can say you tried to get the building owner to do the right thing, you
tried to get the fire department to do the right thing, but no one listened!