Understanding Professional Alarm Monitoring.- Geminisense

The UK’s main security services and fire safety certification bodies are the National Security Inspectorate (NSI) and the Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board (SSAIB).

ARCs should be certified by such bodies (for example, with the “ARC Gold” standard), yet there are some non-accredited ARCs that do not meet the required standards and therefore, cannot guarantee such a high level of service.

One factor that differentiates the true professionals is that non-accredited ARCs can’t guarantee a police response. In order to do so, they need to be approved in accordance with the alarm policy of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC).

There are standards for all sorts of areas under the alarm monitoring umbrella, including standards for signal processing, data security, physical security, lone worker protection, and so on.

One of the main standards to be aware of is EN 50126-2:2013 which covers how Alarm Transmission Systems (ATSs) must function.