To safeguard both life and property it is usual, when designing new industrial, office and public buildings, for a fire alarm system to be specified. With increasingly stringent modern safety standards, the upgrading of fire alarm systems to older buildings is also becoming more common.
Though the safety standards and complexity of alarm systems will vary from country to country, all share a common basic format. Various forms of fire detectors will be linked to a central control panel and this in turn will be linked to an audible and sometimes visual alarm. In some cases, the system may also either shut down plant or transit systems and summon emergency services.
In most cases the control system will have various internal fault detection and warning systems and internal or external power supply backup.
