Safe Secure Ltd.

1. OVERVIEW
Our Alarm Monitoring Service is a vital component of your security package. The following information will help you understand our operating procedures, and can be tailored to suit your individual needs. This way we can provide you with the service that you require. Your understanding of our Alarm protocol will firstly help you avoid costly alarm response callouts and secondly assist you in a achieving the maximum benefits possible from your alarm system and our monitoring service.

2. OUR OBJECTIVE

To provide you with the best monitoring service available in New Zealand.
To provide you with procedural and technical information so you can maximise the benefits from your alarm, including providing you with 24 hour access to your activity logs through our “Look In” programme.
To provide our business clients with an information resource to assist them in controlling their employees access into their premises with the express aim of eliminating the opportunity for staff pilfering and theft.
To decrease the number of false alarms and which will reduce the cost of alarm call-outs.

3. HOW TO CONTACT OUR MONITORING STATION

Phone your local Safe Secure telephone number. (Due to repeated misuse of our inbound 0800 numbers we do not accept cellphones to our 0800 numbers)
Direct line to our Monitoring room phone: 0800 723 373
Direct line to our Monitoring room fax: 0800 115 227
Monitoring room email address: monitoring@safesecure.co.nz
Monitoring room postal address: Safe Secure Monitoring, P O Box 8585, Christchurch

4. CHANGES TO YOUR CLIENT INFORMATION
Whenever your contacts, alarm users, phone numbers or passwords change you should notify us as soon as possible. While alterations to your monitoring information can be taken over the phone if you supply us with your password, we prefer that you email or fax us with your changes along with your name and password. you can also use our information update form, to do so click here. That way we have a written record and there is less chance of loading and typing errors.

5. OUR PROCEDURES
Your emergency contact list will be established prior to the connection of your alarm in consultation with our Sales Representative and may include emergency services, security response personnel and key holders capable of providing assistance. When your alarm activates, a verification call to the premises will be made in the first instance. If there is no answer or the person answering the phone does not know your password then we will respond as per your instructions.

6. NO ALARM CALL COSTS
When your alarm is monitored by us your alarm incurs no toll call charges irrespective as to your location.

7. LOOK IN
We operate a state of the art monitoring programme, which enables you to look in at your alarm’s activity logs wherever you are, whenever you wish. All you need is a computer connected to the internet. To register for this service all you do is contact us and we will set this programme up for you. You can also print out your activity logs from our “Look In” programme.

To view our test site click here

Some advantages of our “Look In” programme:
Our monitoring service is totally transparent. You can see exactly when an event occurred, what our response was, how long it took us to react and what steps we put in place.

In a Commercial alarm these activity logs:

Enable you to see if anyone entered your premises overnight, what time your alarm was set last night and unset this morning. Most internal theft occurs outside normal working hours, either by staff entering early or leaving late or coming back when no one else is on site. The first step in deterring this type of theft is to control access.
You can check these activity logs whenever you wish.
In a Domestic situation you can see such things as:
If your alarm is set.
What time your cleaner left.
When your children arrived home.

8. PRINTOUTS
For clients who do not have our “Look In” service we can email or fax your activity printouts to you, there is no charge for emailing, while for faxing we charge $1.00 per fax.

9. KEY HOLDING

Commercial: For a Commercial site, we recommend that security hold keys. Often intruders break in through roofs or from under the floor and their entry point is not always obvious. Without keys we can never be sure if there has been a break-in, if the intruders are still on site, or if the alarm has been interfered with and will not operate as it was designed to.

Domestic: Keys are only necessary if the guard cannot get access into your property or full access around the outside of your home.

10. RESPONSE
We do not carry out response work. Our only interest is getting you the best and fastest response possible. If you are unhappy with your response company we will change to the company of your choice.

11. FALSE ALARMS
90% of false alarms have three causes – air movement, live animals or insects and alarms activating on setting and unsetting. Cut these out and 90% of your callouts will be cut out.

a) Air Movement
Passive Infra Red detectors detect the movement of a heat source as compared to the background (ambient) room temperature. Hot air rising causes air circulation within an area. Passive Infra Red Detectors can sometimes detect this mixing and movement of hot and cold air and will occasionally activate because of it.

Typical examples
– windows left open
the air from outside is a different temperature to the air inside the room; the hot air rises which causes movement which in turn activates the detector.
-heaters
coming on at a preset time causing air circulation, especially likely to cause problems if there are overhead mobiles/signs which start moving compounding the mixing of hot and cold air. The movement of this hot air and activates the detector.
-windows left open
for example, on a hot nor’west day – the curtains start billowing, speeding up air movement.

To alleviate this

leave windows shut, or if left open, leave open in areas not protected by Passive Infra Red Detectors. If you are going to leave windows open then they should have window security stays on them.
Install harsh environment sensors.
Pulse count your Passive Infra Red Detector to decrease its sensitivity.

b) Live Animals (pets) and Insects
Insects
Spiders and small insects like to nest inside Passive Infra Red Detectors and if they walk over the Passive Infra Red Detector lens, this can activate the alarm.

To solve
install Detectors that have a shielded lens so that even if the insects get inside the PIR they cannot get access to the PIR’s lens.
If your detectors do not have shielded lenses ensure that the technician seals up any holes in the plastic case.

Flies
flies walking over the outside of the PIR lens can activate the PIR as while flies are small, when they walk over the lens they are very close to the detector so the detector sees them as being larger than they are.

To solve
Spray flyspray around (not on) the PIR. Do not spray on the detectors plastic casing as flyspray can cause the plastic to disintegrate over a period of time.

Live animals (pets)
cats and dogs are a common cause of false alarms. Even with pet sensors installed alarms can activate, often security find the client’s cat has gained entry via the cat door along with the neighbours cat.

To solve
leave pets outside if your alarm is not set up to accommodate them or leave pets in an area of your home not protected by PIR’s.
install Pet Sensors.
pulse count your alarm to accommodate pets.

c) Activations on setting and unsetting your alarm.
Often alarms are activated by user mistakes on setting or unsetting of your alarm. Remember if you unset the alarm within 1 minute of the alarm activating we will not contact us unless you instruct us to. If you want us to contact you on an activation followed by an unset remember that for a variety of reasons often we cannot contact you by phone, (you may have your answer phone on or be using your phone line). We then have no option but to contact your contacts or send security if no contacts are available. As a policy, if you, your employees or your family and friends activate the alarm it is a good idea to ring us. That way you ensure a guard is not sent to your premises.

12. BURGLARS ARE BECOMING SMARTER
Intruders today are becoming smarter so, with your interests in mind we always err on the side of caution, and if in doubt we will contact you or send security. We always try to do the best thing for you.

13. PASSWORDS / CODEWORDS / DURESS CODES
Every monitoring site can either have a group password or individual passwords, or a combination. Your password can be a number or word, but should be simple and easily understood. The password confirms everything is OK and should be changed when it becomes commonly known and when employees leave, you can also have a Duress code word which will unset your alarm and send a Duress Signal to us. We will send the Police on receipt of Duress alarms. You will be asked to provide your name and password or codeword everytime you contact us.

14. ALARM ACTIVATIONS
Our Standard Operating Procedure is if an alarm activates at night i.e. between the hours of 2100 – 0700, we automatically send security and between 0700 – 2100 we contact the contact list. This can be tailored to suit yourself.

Our monitoring staff use their initiative with regards to these times, on a long summers night they may ring your contacts later. If you want to change this so that we contact you 24 hours a day or send security on all activations, just let us know.

When we ring you or your contacts we always stipulate the site, street address and tell you or your contacts the activity type, and zone if known. In this case we will also provide the welfare check for the person attending. If we have not heard back within 30 minutes we contact them. If this proves impossible we will send a guard.
We also give them our 0800 number, and ask that they ring us and can tell us the outcome.

When dispatching Security we give them the site name, the street address, which zone has activated and where it is if we know (i.e. zone 1 front foyer) and the response code.
Except for Chubb and Armourguard responses where the guards welfare is looked after by their operations manager, the Guard or contact responding should contact us when they enter the building – if they hold keys they may require the alarm unset code, and contact us again when they leave so we can check that the alarm has set if appropriate and to report the outcome of the callout.

We write up an activation report for all activations where security or you or your contacts respond which we email, post or fax it to you. Activation reports are filled out for all activations except when it is operator error.

15. RESPONDING TO ALARM ACTIVATIONS
Responding to alarm activations can be dangerous, if you suspect someone is on site or there is evidence of a break-in, contact the police immediately. Do not attempt to apprehend or approach intruders, just note their vehicle registration number. Stay well away from the intruders. If you do enter the building following a break-in do not touch or move anything. Please educate your contact list on this protocol. Do not go into buildings alone if there is any doubt as to whether there has been a break-in.

16. REPEAT ACTIVATIONS
Before we ignore repeat activations we always contact you to get your approval. Some intruders will set off an alarm two, three or more times over some hours before they actually commit the crime in an attempt to get us or you to ignore the activations.
Another zone activating at a site is NEVER treated as a repeat activation.
e.g Zone 1 activating repeatedly
then Zone 2 activates – IS NEVER IGNORED.
This is a new activation.

17. CERTAIN BREAK IN ACTIVATIONS “Hot Activations”
If we receive activations from different zones activating in a row it is a good indication that someone is on site. We treat this as a “hot” activation and we send the police immediately and as well we put in place your usual contact procedure. In a “hot” activation extreme caution should be taken if you choose to respond. You may beat the Police to the site, do not enter until the Police arrive unless you are certain there is no problem. See previous information clause 16.

We always look for an UNSET following these activations as this then indicates that someone who knows the code is on site. If this occurs or we get a “hot” activation at your normal opening time then our normal operating procedures are put in place, we do not send the police, rather we will contact you, as invariably it is a keyholder who has forgotten or doesn’t know the alarm code, often a new user or someone who doesn’t set or unset the alarm regularly.

18. BATTERY FAIL/BATTERY LOW
When we receive a battery low or battery fail we note for action as soon as possible, except for COMMERCIAL ALARMS when we take immediate action as this signal indicates the alarm may no longer be operating correctly, especially if this signal has been preceded by a power fail.

For all low Battery signals we complete a job sheet to check or replace the battery unless the power has previously failed. Batteries should last 5 years.

19. OUT OF HOURS ACTIVITY
(Commercial Alarms reporting set/unset)

If the alarm is unset out of hours – we immediately ring the site and ask for the operator’s name and password.
If no reply we contact the contacts and as a last resort send security to see who is on the premises.
Staff entering the premises out of hours should wait for us to ring them or contact us themselves on our phone number and report in.

We ascertain their likely length of staying on site and enter a schedule accordingly.

20. COMMERCIAL ALARMS NOT SET BY THEIR CLOSING SCHEDULES
These are actioned as soon as possible. When the site is rung we enter their details i.e. “Bill gave code” and insert a “Temporary Schedule” for the time they indicate adding 30 minutes approximately on to the time they indicate. If the alarm is not set by the extended time we will ring you in case you have forgotten to set or another person has arrived on site. (If no reply at the site we Ring a Contact or send Security). If staff are working late please ensure that they can hear the phone, have access to the phone or have them ring us to let us know how long they are on site.

21. PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
(Commercial Alarms)
Our monitoring computers have a holiday schedule mode, on public statutory holidays clients can have a different schedule to their normal opening times. These are set to suit your business, For example, dairies are usually open on holidays while factories are not.

Again if you or your staff enter the premises and you do not have a holiday schedule then you should expect a call from us or better still, please ring us. We ascertain your likely length of time on the premises and enter a schedule accordingly.

Public holidays are Labour Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Day and 2nd January, Waitangi Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day (am only) and Queens Birthday. We do not count anniversary days as holidays as these dates vary between province and area, and most businesses open up on them.

Before all holidays we send out a form for our business clients to email or fax back to us only if they are closed for the holiday day. Please ensure you do this or your normal opening and closing schedule will remain in operation for that holiday day.

22. IF NO SET SIGNAL IS RECEIVED ON ALARMS
(client forgot to set or says alarm is set or is leaving alarm unset)

We can try to set by ringing the panel on our upload/download computer. This costs $12.00 + GST.
If Security hold keys, we can get Security to set the alarm. Our normal callout charge will apply.
If alarm can not be set or you instruct us to leave it as is, we insert a temporary schedule through to your normal opening time the next day.

23. POWER FAIL
Most alarms communicate with us if the mains power fails (usually 20-30 minutes after the event).

ACTION PLAN:
Commercial – We immediately contact you, irrespective of the time to inform you and see if you want to respond or want us to send security. The back up battery can not be relied on to guarantee the alarm will work, also often this signal can be an indication of a break in to follow. Exception: If there is a power blackout over a large area we do not contact you.
Domestic/Medical Alarms– we note down power fails and contact you that day or the next day if it occurs at night.

If power fails occur regularly, this is probably due to a loose plug pack in the case of medicals, or a poor connection, or the alarm being on a ripple control unit in the case of alarms. A job sheet will be done to rectify the problem.

24. DAILY TEST, TEST NOT RECEIVED SIGNALS
All of our alarms are programmed to transmit a daily test signal every 24 hours so we know that the alarm is still connected and working. This test is generated from the site by the alarm panel.

This daily test may cut you off if you are talking on the telephone at the time the alarm tests. We try to programme this daily test to happen at night so as to avoid you being cut off. It is possible for us to change the daily test time via our upload/download computer, or by visiting the site.

If we receive a “Test not received” signal and there is no obvious reason for the Test Not Received signal, during the day we action it immediately or at night we note it down so the day shift operator can action as soon as possible.

Tests Not Received occur because:

There is a localised or widespread Telecom fault.
The telephone is off the hook.
The alarm power has failed.
The telephone is disconnected.

25. ZONE BYPASS
Most modern panels transmit a “zone is bypassed signal”, ie. A zone is in default or is isolated - For a Commercial site we always contact the owner to notify them of this, and in a Domestic we ignore the signal unless it is an ongoing occurrence, in which case we will contact you personally to ensure you know you are bypassing a zone, unless it is a smoke or a 24 hour zone when we will contact you that day.

26. FALSE ALARMS ON ENTRY / EXIT
An alarm activation upon entry and exit to your premises is the most common cause of alarm activity. While this is a false alarm, the users should contact us immediately to verify everything is in order so as to ensure no further action is taken. If we have an unset within 1 minute of an activation we will ignore this unless you notify us.

27. LEAVING YOUR PREMISES
Please ensure that all external windows and doors are closed and locked prior to setting the alarm. To arm the alarm stand still in from of the keypad until the zones are closed or the ready light is on then arm the alarm.

28. SECURITY LABELS AND TELEPHONE LABELS
Security labels should be affixed to the outside of your premises to deter criminals. They also make it easier for security to find your premises. They are available at no cost. Phone labels with our telephone number should be affixed to your telephone to enable operators to easily contact us. These are also available at no cost.

29. GENUINE FALSE ALARMS
As a rule of thumb, if we receive more than 2 false alarms from a sensor over a four month time period it should be serviced. It is cheaper to pay for an alarm service than have repeating false alarms. If you want an alarm service or are unsure as to whether it is needed please phone us.

30. FIRE ALARMS
Our standard operating procedure for fire alarm activations is that we phone the premises first, if there is no reply, we send the Fire Brigade and advise the emergency contacts.

31. DUAL PATH MONITORING - RADIONET, RADIO LINK
Where we are monitoring Dual Path signals, when we do not receive an activation on both the dual and single path mediums we always notify the Response Company or client if they are responding of the possibility the telephone line has been cut, as extreme caution must be taken. If the client is responding they should not go alone, and should call the Police if there is any suspicious activity. On “line cut” sites there is a likelihood the burglars will be on the site.

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