Retail Fire Alarm Systems: The Intelligence Behind Safer Environments

The unique compliance challenges facing retail environments

Overcoming high-risk areas and complex escape routes

The single biggest fire safety challenge in retail environments is the accessibility of fire exits. Escape routes can be complex due to promotional materials, queues, storage carts, and display merchandise blocking essential fire exit routes. This makes retail fire safety compliance more difficult, and can increase the risk of fatal incidents due to slow, inefficient evacuation.

Why manual compliance processes fail multi-site retail

Manual compliance processes can be time-consuming and require a lot of paperwork. This makes them less effective for multi-site retail because there is no form of real-time monitoring. Manual compliance relies on site visits for each location to perform compliance checks which can leave big time gaps between compliance checks for a single location. In the time between compliance checks, there is the opportunity for faults to develop and go overlooked, leading to non-compliance, false alarms and increased fire risk.

The risk of reactive maintenance and false alarms

Reactive maintenance poses more risk to a retail site as a false alarm or fire event needs to occur before any action is taken. In the case of relying on false alarms as a trigger to perform maintenance, this can result in alert fatigue amongst the staff. Making them more complacent and less likely to take fire alarms seriously which can result in slower evacuations and an increased risk of fatal incidents.

In the case of an active fire event, it is too late to perform maintenance. It is more likely that repair or replacement will be needed due to fire and smoke damage.

Drax Technology enables a proactive approach to fire system maintenance by providing continuous visibility of system performance and early indicators of faults, helping issues to be addressed before false alarms occur. By reducing unnecessary activations, retail teams can minimise alert fatigue among staff, ensure alarms are taken seriously, and maintain safer, more efficient evacuations.

Fact: England’s fire‑incident statistics for the year ending March 2023 show thousands of fires in non‑dwelling properties, including shops and retail units, prompting continued emphasis on means of escape, alarm audibility and electrical‑equipment maintenance in retail fire‑risk assessments.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incidents-in-non-dwelling-properties-year-ending-march-2023

Transforming retail fire safety from reactive to proactive

Improve your retail, logistics and distribution safety by taking a proactive approach to fire safety compliance.

Your unified building safety control room for all retail sites Monitor and control all of the fire safety assets across all of your retail sites via a centralised user-friendly dashboard.
Central critical alarm management and response Manage all of the alarms across your portfolio and respond to alerts quickly.
Real-time data cuts response times during incidents Real-time monitoring allows for early detection and faster response times.

Continuous compliance with enhanced fire safety Automated recording of audit trails and alarm events enable continuous compliance across your portfolio.
Automated detection of non-compliance with British Standards Get automatic notifications of any non-compliance and actionable guidance on how to proceed.
Digital audit trails and incident forensics for HSE reporting Audit trails and incident forensics are saved locally in the compliance hub for easy regulatory reporting.

Going beyond the alarm: Asset and maintenance intelligence

Go beyond the alarm with Drax Technology. Our intelligent platform allows for full asset management of all fire safety devices across your portfolio.

Proactive asset management for fire and life safety devices

Proactive retail fire maintenance helps to keep costs down and reduce the amount of false alarms and fire events. Our intelligent solution enables you to see all of the fire safety assets across your retail sites, check the status of each asset in real-time, and plan remedial maintenance early to resolve small issues before they can progress to larger threats.

Early identification of faulty smoke detectors and sensors

‘Always on’ fire safety software allows for the early detection of faults in smoke detectors and heat sensors. This improves response times, reduces the likelihood of false alarms and fire incidents, and reduces the need for replacement costs.

Tamper detection and accountability alerts

Real-time tamper detection allows you to catch issues early, address them directly, and provide comprehensive reports for full accountability.

Streamlined system testing and certified reporting

System testing can be performed via the centralised dashboard. Removing the need for on-site system testing, and saving time. Automatic reporting of alarm alerts and fire event data reduces the need for paperwork.

Who We Work With

The Drax Technology advantage over typical service-led solutions There are several ways in which our technology-led approach outperforms service-led solutions.
Built for the end user, not just the service provider Rather than providing a solution that requires the continuous help of a service provider to run smoothly. At Drax Technology, we put the control of fire safety systems firmly into your hands. Our user-friendly dashboard is built for the end user. Allowing you to manage fire safety systems directly, without the need to refer to third parties.

Full-stack automation and integrated design Our platform is designed to fully integrate all fire safety assets across your retail sites seamlessly. Full-stack automation enables you to leverage real-time data across your entire portfolio to prioritise maintenance effectively, and respond to live events quickly and efficiently.
Predicting risk with early-stage triggers and intelligence Real-time monitoring, early stage triggers, and predictive analytics allow you to anticipate fire risks before they can occur. This enables a proactive approach that focuses on resolving small faults to avoid larger fire safety risks.

Our system is compatible with over 50 fire alarm manufacturers

Drax Technology

Ready For the Future of Retail Fire Safety?

If you want to protect your retails sites from fire risks with the future of retail safety, our intelligent retail fire safety compliance platform could be exactly what you are looking for.

Book a Demo

Retail fire safety compliance FAQs

What is the main difference between Drax Technology and a competitor like Nimbus Digital or CLSS by Honeywell?

The main difference between Drax technology and our competitors is the approach that we take to fire safety. Whereas our competitors focus on reactive alerts and a service-led solution with a modular approach which can lead to incomplete audit trails, more false alarms, and awkward integration. We focus on a complete technology-led solution that puts control into the hands of the ‘responsible person’ and facilitates a proactive approach to fire safety compliance.

How does Drax Technology help my retail business with fire safety compliance?

Drax Technology can help your retail business with fire safety compliance by providing critical alarm management of all fire safety assets across your sites that can be controlled from one centralised, user-friendly dashboard.

The compliance hub automatically records complete audit trails, detects any cases of non-compliance, and provides actionable guidance on how to proceed to remain fully compliant.

Can Drax Technology integrate with my existing retail fire alarm systems?

Yes, our solution can seamlessly integrate with, and interlink, numerous fire safety assets from different fire alarm manufacturers. It is compatible with over 50 fire safety brands.

How does critical alarm management reduce downtime in a retail environment?

Critical alarm management reduces downtime in a retail environment by monitoring all fire safety assets and their statuses in real-time, anticipating faults that can lead to false alarms or fire events, and providing actionable guidance on how to remedy any potential faults. By avoiding needless false alarms and fire events, the amount of downtime is significantly reduced.

Does Drax Technology offer solutions for other retail compliance issues, like water safety?

Yes, our comprehensive compliance platform covers asset management, critical alarm management, and water system monitoring.