NSI Fire Accreditation for Alarm Receiving Centre

A state of the art Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) operated by facilities management company Romec has been awarded NSI Accreditation for its fire monitoring services.

The endorsement forms an extension to Romec's existing NSI Gold Accreditation for Security.

NSI (National Security Inspectorate) is the leading approvals and certification body that inspects companies providing security and fire safety services.

The current ARC has been operational since 2001 and was purpose built to replace the original one that it had operated since the 1989; when the company was established.

This currently acts as a standby ARC, and can be fully up and running within a short period of time which forms a major part of receiving NSI Accreditation.

It contributes £4.8 million in turnover to the business, and looks after 14,000 intruder alarm systems and 2,000 fire alarm systems while also monitoring 500 vehicles. It handles 870,000 telephone calls per annum and 560,000 alarm activations.

John McKenna, Romec Director of Support Services, said: "Having received NSI Accreditation for both fire and security is testament to the high level of service we provide for our customers.

"Gaining accreditation is a tough process but having it forms an essential part of a fire and security company's credibility and standing, and to achieve it we had to demonstrate a track record of the ARC's reliability and stability.

"Eight years ago when we opened the current ARC we invested £1 million in redeveloping what was a pretty standard office building, but we had to ensure it complied with British Standard 5979 so we could operate it to a high standard."

The ARC operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is run by a staff of 32 who mostly work 12 hour shifts together with 10 virtual operators for low priority alarms.