Fire alarms are provided for two reasons. Life safety and protection of property. There is no hard and fast rule that states that an electronic fire alarm of some form must always be provided in all buildings. Although there are certain premises where it is necessary to do so such as those premises in particular where people sleep in the building such as hotels, residential homes and institutions. There are many small buildings that do not needs any form of fire alarm. This could perhaps be due to an open plan arrangement where occupants would be readily aware of fire or a building with very good escape provisions. Purpose made and recently converted blocks of flats would not normally require some form of common fire alarm system. The built in design fire strategy has a greater emphasis on fire containment to support what is known as a stay put policy. The extent to which a fire alarm may or may not be required to facilitate safe escape from fire depends upon the risk, which in itself is determined by a number of factors such as the degree of fire containment and the provisions relating to the means of escape. This should be done on a case by case basis.
Fire alarm systems primarily for protection of property would generally be integrated with other provisions. This may include for example closing fire resisting roller shutters, activating fire suppression systems, or sending a remote signal to an alarm receiving center which may then call the fire service. The latter is more important where the building in question may be located in an out of town area where any fire originating at night is likely to go undetected by the public as no one would simply be around to raise the alarm. Whether a fire alarm is chosen primarily for property protection or life safety they can both compliment each other as can the degree of fire containment. When installed there is a duty to maintain those provisions by having the alarm serviced (According to BS 5839 Part 1) every six months and in the work place it should be tested every week. Records should be kept.
