Fire Alarm - Tec Trek Web Site

Tip of the Week

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Separate and distinctive , what does that mean?


Based on a recent conversation with an compliance inspector, I felt obligated to post the results of topics we covered.

On site inspection brought up issues related to the facility alarms, more specifically alarms designated as Emergency.

Would  a Fire condition on a facility be considered an emergency, I am sure most, including myself would agree. However, does an emergency audible alarm mean that the Fire Alarm Control Panel has been activated.  Absolutely not.

All OCSG manned structures are required to have emergency stations throughout the facility.  In addition to the Abandon, you would see Fire and on some occasions you will notice that the button Emergency has replaced the Fire button.  I'm assuming that it was agreed by some that Fire/Emergency would be considered the same, well according to P-173, that is not so.

P-173, Is what I like to refer to as an all encompassing infraction that is loaded. The broad nature of how it reads and the codes/standards listed can, in my opinion, be used for over 90% of the INC's issued on Fire Detection violations.  With the issues that we talked about above involving Fire and Emergency alarms, section 5 of P-173 is self explanatory and specific.  

So during quarterly inspections, calibration and testing, ensure that the alarm for Fire is separate and distinctive from all other alarms.  Also keep in mind that the actual Fire Alarm tone and its priority sequence is also specific per code.

Pneumatic horns that activate due to a Fire Alarm are also not acceptable or compliant, these horns are specific to production and process functions.

Jason, I hope that this information was helpful to you.


If you require more information regarding the terms and explanations above, contact me by email or phone for assistance.

The above information is covered in the following Tec Trek class segments: Awareness Training (FG-01A), Basic Technical Training (FG-01)

For more information regarding training schedules and course curriculum, please visit our Web Site at www.tectrek.org

or Contact Todd Olivier at (337) 298-7959.

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Email: todd@tectrek.org