Aico Ltd - Housing Hartlepool takes new tenant safety measures

Housing Hartlepool have been using Aico Ei smoke and Carbon Monoxide (CO) alarms over the previous three years or so on programmed new works and upgrading of their empty properties to further improve tenant safety.
They are now in the process of further improving the protection level by installing additional heat detectors sited in the kitchens.
The Housing Association, which is responsible for some 7,500 properties, already prides itself in providing the very best protection for its tenants with most of its properties protected by quality mains powered smoke alarm systems.
"Tenant safety is our first priority," stresses Senior Technical Surveyor Dave Crofton who, in conjunction with his Building Services Manager Mr. G. Gill, has decided this is the way forward and complies with BS.5839 Part 6. "We want to be seen as a leader in the field, meeting the highest standards and taking advantage of the latest and best technology. Simply put, it's worth spending the extra to make everyone as safe as possible."
One innovation is to add heat alarms to existing smoke alarm systems. When a property becomes void or is part of an electrical upgrade scheme, a new Aico Ei160 series heat alarm is automatically fitted in the kitchen and then interconnected with the other property alarms.
"We know that kitchens are, statistically, a major source of fires," says Dave Crofton. "We feel that adding a heat alarm is an important extra safeguard for our tenants.
"We have used other manufacturers, but we like working with Aico because they're always helpful with advice. I also particularly like the Lithium Cell back up on their Ei160 Series because tenants will not remove the cell."
A further safety innovation from Housing Hartlepool is the use of mains powered Ei261 CO alarms from Aico, as the housing association is well aware of the dangers posed by CO to tenants, even with the best safety and maintenance regimes in place.
A mains-powered Ei261 CO alarm is positioned in a room where a major gas appliance is present. This could be a gas fire in the living room, or a gas boiler in a bedroom area. If more than one source of potential danger is identified, extra Ei261 alarms are installed and all the CO alarms on the property interconnected for extra safety.Housing Hartlepool has also been quick to identify the special needs of vulnerable tenants, and to take extended steps to meet them. They are, for example, making extensive use of Aico's Deaf Alarm fire safety technology where needed. However, they're not content to confine protection just to the bedroom area, and extend the coverage of their deaf alarm systems to the whole property, by interconnecting it with other alarms in the property and by adding additional warning strobe lights where needed. The same safety measures are also being applied to CO alarms, with Aico strobes used to warn the deaf or hard of hearing when an alarm is raised.
"Tenant safety is our most pressing concern," emphasises Dave Crofton, "and we intend to keep on innovating and leading the way in providing the very best safety solutions for our tenants."

Email: Julie@publicityoverload.co.uk