Transforming Critical Infrastructure Fire Alarm Systems With Predictive Intelligence

The unique fire safety challenges of critical infrastructure

Cascading failure risks in interconnected systems

With critical infrastructure relying on so many interconnected systems there is a risk that, if one system goes down, there can be a ripple effect of failing systems. This means that a single fire in one location can potentially lead to a complete failure of connected systems throughout the critical infrastructure. The amount of downtime and lost revenue caused by a fire will increase with every extra system that is affected.

Protecting high-voltage and essential equipment

With much of the essential equipment for critical infrastructure being high-voltage there is a higher risk of fire events being detected more slowly. This is because the small amounts of smoke created by an initial electrical fault are not detected quickly enough by traditional smoke alarms. 

The complexity of managing multiple sites and systems

Due to critical infrastructure often running across multiple sites and systems, response times of emergency services can be delayed. Especially for sites in remote locations or that are difficult to access e.g. underground or offshore.  

Addressing the common pain points in legacy fire safety

Moving beyond manual, siloed systems

With critical infrastructure relying on multiple systems in different locations, manual checks can be very time consuming and inefficient. Due to the amount of time that has to be dedicated to manual checks of fire safety equipment across your sites, there is a high likelihood that a fault could develop and cause an issue between scheduled manual checks.

Using siloed fire safety systems adds time to fire safety checks too. Rather than being able to get a combined report of all fire safety assets in one place, siloed data requires on-site checks for each system and manual collation of multiple fire safety compliance reports.

The need for a full-stack, integrated safety platform

By using a full-stack integrated safety platform, you can use autonomous building compliance to ensure that all of your sites are fully compliant. This enables you to keep track of all fire safety assets across your portfolio, see the real-time status of every piece of fire safety equipment, and make informed business decisions based on real-time fire alerts and reports. 

Replacing reactive alerts with early-stage triggers and intelligence

Instead of reacting to a fault alert for a piece of fire safety equipment, our integrated solution enables you to anticipate faults and deal with them proactively. Due to its built-in intelligence and use of early-stage triggers, our platform allows you to predict which systems will be in most  need of maintenance and provides actionable guidance on the best course of action. 

Our solutions for the critical infrastructure sector

Data Centres

Our intelligent platform makes it easy to protect data centres from fire risks. By leveraging intelligent predictive models, the system helps anticipate and prevent unique fire risks that could otherwise go unnoticed within a data centre.

By combining our technology with VESDA (Very Early Smoke Detection Systems) you can implement an approach to fire safety management that is robust, proactive and user-friendly.

Manufacturing and logistics

One of the biggest fire risks for manufacturing and logistics companies is the late detection of fires due to high ceilings. This is further exacerbated by the potential for fires spreading quickly due to racking creating a chimney effect and multiple flammable materials being present within the property.

Our intelligent solution helps to alleviate these problems by providing early-stage triggers that don’t just rely on the presence of smoke or a false alarm due to an equipment fault. This allows managers to monitor, anticipate and react to potential fire risks quickly and easily, before they are able to become a costly problem.

Healthcare and NHS Trusts

Healthcare and NHS trusts can suffer from massive disruption due to false alarms. This is because a single false fire alarm could lead to a large-scale evacuation of staff and patients with a number of medical procedures having to be halted part way through. Add to this the presence of highly flammable containers in hospitals, and the occurrence of a genuine fire can quite quickly cause devastating damage and fatal incidents.

By integrating our technology with fire safety systems in the healthcare sector, fire risks can be detected and minimised before a full blown fire event occurs. False alarms can also be anticipated and avoided through targeted maintenance removing the likelihood of mass evacuations due to false alarms.

Why is a standard fire alarm system not enough for critical infrastructure?

Standard fire alarm systems are not enough for critical infrastructure as they only include traditional smoke detection systems that react to the presence of thick smoke. Due to the ventilation needs of many critical infrastructure systems, smoke can be diluted and missed by standard smoke detectors. This leads to slow detection and response which can result in catastrophic damage and large amounts of costly downtime.

How does Drax Technology ensure continuous compliance?

Drax Technology ensures continuous compliance by making all compliance reporting and audit trails as autonomous as possible. Critical alarm data is recorded for every fire event (including false alarms) across all interlinked fire safety assets. This is recorded locally within the platform and can be accessed easily via the Compliance Hub.

Can Drax Technology integrate with my existing fire alarm panels?

Yes, Drax Technology is compatible with over 50 fire alarm panel manufacturers. It is also capable of connecting fire alarm systems from multiple manufacturers into one integrated fire safety system.

What is the primary benefit of 'Critical Alarm Management'?

The primary benefit of critical alarm management is full visibility of the fire safety assets and their statuses across your portfolio. This enables faster response to fire events that are fully targeted, anticipation of fire risks that can be overcome through effective maintenance, and easy management of fire safety compliance across all of your sites.

What is Drax Technology's advantage over competitors?

Drax Technology provides the opportunity to take a proactive approach to fire safety management. This allows you to anticipate fire risks and remove them efficiently before they can become a problem. Our competitors still rely on reactive alerts that are only triggered by fire events or false alarms. This can lead to increased property damage and loss of revenue due to operational disruption. It can also lead to false fire alarms causing alarm fatigue within your staff, resulting in genuine fires being treated less seriously and increasing the likelihood of fatal incidents due to fire.