Fire Alarms for Factories / Workshops

Factories and Workshops are high fire risk areas. With people and machines hard at work (often around the clock) there’s lots of opportunities for things to go wrong…

However, providing fire detection in factory areas requires special thought to prevent the risk of false alarms due to the operations taking place. Ease of installation and maintenance is essential to minimize any disruption to your operations. The saying “Time is Money” is very key in manufacturing environments, where the cost of downtime is counted in £1000’s.

There is many fire protection solutions which are ideal for factories. However, you need to consider the following points to ensure you get the solution that’s right for you.

Points to Consider:

Do my operations create dust/smoke/steam?
How easy will it be to maintain my fire alarm system?
If high level access is required, will this disrupt operations? What will this cost over the system lifetime?
If access is required beneath the detectors to test them, is this viable during working hours? What if you restructure your factory layout – will the detectors still be accessible?
Will diesel forklifts be working in my factory? If so you need to consider about how you can prevent false alarms.
Is there high risk machinery / areas that needs specific protection?

Based on your answers to these questions, you can now consider the following options:

Point Type Detectors are ideal for many fire detection applications in factories. However, don’t use Smoke Detection above 10.5m or heat detection above 7.5m (unless it is an RoR detector). However, point type can be tricky to maintain as access is required underneath them, so may not be the best choice if you have a complex floor layout with lots of machinery/storage.
Beam Smoke Detection is great for protecting large factory areas. Mounted on perimeter walls at high level, they are easy to install and maintain, but may require high level access equipment for the maintenance. Make sure your detectors are capable of compensating for building movement!
High Sensitivity Smoke Detection (HSSD) is ideal for most applications. It will detect a fire very swiftly and if installed correctly can be simply maintained from ground level. However, if you’re working in a dirty environment you need to be sure you’ve got the correct air filters on your system and possibly an automatic blow-through.
Linear Heat Detection Cable is really robust. It’s great for protecting round high risk points of your facility / machinery. It’s a good form of detection inside CNC machines and other equipment.
Flame Detection is great for protecting open production / storage areas, or around key risk points where you could expect a sudden flaming fire to occur.
Video Fire Detection is also ideal for factory / workshop areas where you have have a flaming fire risk. However, VFD systems can also detect smoke. They are ideal for protecting really high level buildings where conventional smoke detection systems are not swift enough to react – VFD will detect a fire as soon as the camera can ‘see’ it, resulting in really early detection.

Choosing the right fire alarm system can seem really complicated, but it doesn’t need to be! Why not call our team of professionals today to discuss your requirements in more detail and we’ll be glad to help!