Every year it catches someone out. The longer days arrive, the building gets busier, staff start taking holidays, and somewhere in the middle of all that, the fire alarm that was slightly overdue a service gets even more overdue. The CCTV camera covering the rear car park that has been pointing at slightly the wrong angle since February stays pointing at the wrong angle.
Summer in a commercial building is not just about warm weather. It brings a specific set of pressures, more people moving through the building, windows and doors left open, increased footfall, and in some sectors a skeleton staff covering a premises that is still very much in use. All of that changes your risk profile, whether you have thought about it or not.
At 247 Protection we cover fire safety and electronic security for commercial buildings across Lancashire and the North West, and this time of year we always see the same pattern. The businesses that got their systems checked in spring are relaxed. The ones that did not are scrambling when something flags up at the wrong moment.
This is the first part of a two part blog looking at what you should actually be thinking about before summer gets going. Not a scare story, just practical stuff worth getting sorted.
Warmer Weather and Fire Risk Are Not Unrelated
It is easy to think of fire risk as a winter thing. Faulty heaters, overloaded extension leads, people using equipment to stay warm that was never meant to be used that way. But summer has its own set of risks and they are worth understanding.
Heat affects equipment. Electrical systems that run fine in cooler months can behave differently when ambient temperatures rise, particularly in areas of a building that do not have great ventilation, like plant rooms, roof spaces, or storage areas that get baked in the sun. If your fire detection does not cover those areas properly, or if the detectors in those zones have not been tested recently, that is a gap worth closing before temperatures climb.
Doors and windows being propped open is another one. In summer, people do it without thinking, it is hot, they want air. But fire doors exist for a reason, and a propped fire door can completely undermine the compartmentation that is supposed to give people time to evacuate safely. A good fire risk assessment will flag this as a behavioural issue, and it is one that tends to get worse in summer rather than better.
If your last fire risk assessment was more than twelve months ago, or if there have been changes to how your building is used since then, now is a sensible time to get a fresh one done. It does not have to be complicated and for most commercial premises it does not take long, but it gives you a clear picture of where you stand going into the busier months.
Your Fire Alarm System and the Summer Maintenance Window
Most commercial fire alarm systems under BS 5839 should be serviced at least twice a year. If you are on an annual service, you are already behind where you should be. If you are on a six monthly schedule, think about when your last visit was and whether the next one is booked.
The period just before summer is actually a good time to get a service done for a straightforward reason. If there are any faults, ageing components, or anything that needs attention, you want to know about it before the building is at its busiest and before your usual contacts go on holiday.
There is nothing worse than a fault showing on the panel on a Friday afternoon in August when half your team are away and you are not sure who to ring. Getting ahead of it in May or June means you are not in that position.
We carry out fire alarm servicing across Lancashire and the wider North West. If you are not sure when your last service was or whether your current maintenance arrangement is actually keeping you compliant, give us a call and we can have a look at where you stand.
CCTV and the Long Days Problem
Here is something that catches people out every year. In winter, your CCTV cameras are set up to handle low light conditions. The car park is dark by four in the afternoon, the lighting kicks in, and the cameras do what they are supposed to do.
Then summer arrives. It is still light at nine in the evening. The angle of the sun is completely different. And the cameras that were perfectly positioned in November are now getting glare from the west-facing wall every afternoon, or overexposing on the entrance because the sun is hitting it directly.
It sounds like a minor thing but if your cameras are not picking up usable footage during the hours when your building is actually occupied and active, they are not doing their job. And most people do not realise there is a problem until they need to pull footage for a specific incident and find it is not as clear as they expected.
A camera check before summer is simple and quick. We can go through your system, adjust angles where needed, check the image quality across different lighting conditions, and flag anything that is not performing as it should. If your system is older and starting to struggle with the demands of modern usage, we can also talk through what an upgrade might look like and what it would cost.
Increased Footfall Means Increased Exposure
Some commercial buildings are significantly busier in summer. If you run a retail unit, a leisure facility, a school or college, a hotel or hospitality venue, or any kind of site that sees more visitors over the summer months, your security requirements go up alongside your footfall.
More people through the door means more opportunity for things to go wrong, whether that is theft, access to areas that should be restricted, or just the general difficulty of keeping track of who is in the building at any given time. CCTV coverage that was adequate when you had a steady flow of familiar faces might not be adequate when you are dealing with a much larger and less familiar crowd.
It is worth thinking about whether your current camera positions give you the coverage you actually need during your busiest periods. Are your entrance and exit points properly covered? Is there a blind spot in the car park that has always been slightly awkward? Is the camera covering your most high-value stock or equipment actually giving you a clear enough image to be useful?
These are not huge projects. Sometimes it is a repositioning job. Sometimes it is an additional camera in a specific location. But getting it sorted before the rush rather than after an incident is always going to be the better outcome.
Access Control When Staff Are Coming and Going
Summer means holiday cover, temporary staff, contractors in and out, and a general loosening of the usual patterns of who is in the building and when. If your access control system has not been reviewed recently, summer is a good time to do it.
Are there former employees who still have active fobs or codes? Are your access logs actually being checked? If you have temporary staff coming in, do you have a process for issuing and retrieving credentials properly?
We install and maintain access control systems for commercial buildings across the region. If yours is feeling a bit patchy or if you have never really got to grips with the management side of it, we can help you get it into a shape that actually works.
Part Two Is About Getting It Done
In the second part of this blog we get into the practical side of booking a pre-summer check across your fire and security systems, what that actually involves, what it costs, and why getting it done now rather than later is worth it. In the meantime, if you want to have a conversation about any of the above, ring us on 01254 416247 or email enquiries@247protection.co.uk. We cover Darwen, Blackburn, Burnley, Preston and a wide area across Lancashire and the North West
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