There are industry standards in operation that affect the design, installation, operation and maintenance of integrated security management systems.
With particular reference to remote control CCTV systems is the British Standard BS8418 Code of Practice for the Installation and remote monitoring of detector activated CCTV systems, which sets out to raise the standard of installation and operation of integrated, remotely monitored CCTV systems.
The document provides recommendations on best practice for the design, installation, commissioning and operation of such systems.
It was introduced because increasingly sophisticated intruder alarms were being integrated to incorporate ‘smart’ detectors and CCTV cameras to provide a means of verifying, or confirming if an alarm was genuine.
This ensured that the appropriate response could be carried out quickly and effectively by key-holders, and, more importantly, by the Police. To minimise the number of false alarms that the Police attended, intruder alarms had to comply with DD243.
With the introduction of BS8418, this initiative has also been applied to detector activated CCTV and remote monitoring.
The Police will issue a Unique Reference Number (URN) only to systems that comply with BS8418. This not only affects the overall design of the system, but also the performance of motion detectors, CCTV cameras, alarm handling and how the system is maintained.
More information about Remote CCTV Monitoring.