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ACCENT Listserver Archives
Table of Contents
These questions, comments
and responses are the words of the writers and do not represent any more
than a dialogue among peers. We are not providing all comments and responses
in this report, only a sample of the issues. In future reports we will
cover the topics in more detail.
Alarm
Resolution Codes
Question:
"I
am looking at changing our resolution codes to give us a little more
information. I would be interested in what others may be using"
Response:
Virginia
Williams from SIA sent the recommended PSAP Event Disposition that was
developed by the CSAA and adopted into one of SIA's draft standards.
Alarm
Transmission Problems Over Telco Networks
Problem:
Telephone
networks are changing on a almost daily basis. New technology is being
introduced that is affecting alarm signal communications. Monitoring
stations have reported communications problems resulting in either incorrect
signals or no signals received. With
over 25 million security systems in North America and an estimated 12
million systems over 10 years old- changes in these telephone network
systems have the potential to translate into millions of dollars spent
to update and replace equipment.
Response:
The
Security Industry Association has established the Telephone Network
Compatibility Working Group to deal with this issue.Malcolm Pesner of
Sentinel Alarms is the chair.
Burg
Verification/Dispatching/Alarm Response
This
has been the "hottest" topic on the listserver.
The
latest question:
"Can
you tell me your exact dispatch procedures for fire, burg and medical.
Example, do you always call emergency response first, premises first.etc?
We are having a problem defining a standard procedure for all."
Response:
This
question is still being responded to.
The next report on this web page will be addressing the responses
to this issue.
Central
Station Operator Standard of Conduct
Question:
"Does
anyone have an established code of conduct?"
Response:
Jay
Hanger at SIA has developed a Certified Central Station Operator Standards
of Conduct which he shared on the listserve. For a copy call Jay at
the Security Industry Association.
Communication
Between Shifts
Suggestion:
"Communication
can make or break your operation. We overlap our shifts by a half an
hour so that the outgoing operators can pass on any special information.
We also keep a white board in the operator' s area for any messages
and the supervisors meet as a group weekly to discuss any problems"
Consent
to Record Phone Calls
Question:
"For
those of you in states that require notification of both parties that
a phone conversation is being recorded, how do you fulfill that requirement-
particularly on outgoing calls?"
Response:
"We
have a clause in our subscriber agreement that says we will record all
conversations with them and those they list on their EC list. " and,
"In Pennsylvania it is considered a felony to record conversations unless
both parties specifically agree at the time of the call for each and
every call."
Cost
Analysis
Question:
"I
am looking for a national average operating cost per account for a third
party central station"
Responses:
There
were a number of specific examples from third party central stations
sent to the person requesting the information.
Customer
Attrition
Question:
"How
do we figure the rates?"
Response:
"Customer
attrition rates can be figured on two different formulas or bases, account
population or recurring revenue. In either case you have to decide if
you are calculating on a monthly schedule, quarterly or annual".
Customer
Caused False Alarms
Comment:
"We
have a majority of false alarms. We have sent letters, talked to many
of them by phone and always offer to provide additional training to
the customer. Nothing seems to work. I would like to hear of some other
options."
Responses:
There
were many responses among them:
-
"there
are no easy answers",
-
"the
only real answer has come by working with law enforcement agencies
and development of good false alarm ordinances that are fair yet
make the point"
-
"utilize
the cancel/abort feature that most panels can send as a confirmation
that everything is ok at the premises"
Disaster
Plans
CSAA
has a button on the web site specifically on this topic and has a new
committee chaired by Ron LaFontaine that will be exploring the development
of a standard.
Dispatches
During Storms
Comment:
"What
are the rest of you doing?"
Response:
-
"We
call every customer who had a non-restored low battery", and
-
"we
had printed out all of the low-battery power fail signals during
the storm. Since we had hard copies we went back and then made notification
from the hard copy."
Duress
Codes
Question:
"I
am curious as to how many of your companies subscribers utilize duress
codes. If you are using them, have you had actual situations where the
duress code was given?"
Response:
"Yes
we use such a code -it is standard statewide-9999- trained one day to
staff. 17 years, 150,000 subscribers,
never used."
Question:
"Is
anyone verifying panic or duress alarms on commercial or residential
systems."
Response:
"We
verify audible panics. I believe Memphis and Milwaukee are requiring
verification on all the signals you listed before reporting the alarm
to them."
Employee
Agreements
Question:
"Does
anyone have an example of an employee agreement or contract that is
used when an employee takes employer paid training so that the employee
feels obligated to stay with the company for a set amount of time to
"pay-back" the cost of the training."
Response:
"We
do not specifically cover the training period - I have had two trainees
in the past six months that left right after training. This is discouraging
- the best thing to do is ensure that you are hiring the right people
from the beginning."
Employment
Ads
Question:
"I'm
sure that everyone is struggling with this, but I really need some good
people in the central station. Where have you had the best luck finding
good operators? Newspapers? Personal References? Internet Ads?"
Response:
-
"I
ran ads in two newspapers each in different trade area. Ran ad for
part time and one under customer service. We listed the starting wage
and gave a general description but in terms of customer service rather
than dispatch operator. Received 28 calls 20 were qualified, hired
four and have six on the waiting list." and
-
"We
run under dispatcher because under customer service you are fighting
a lot of large ads, especially from placement agencies", and
-
"Recently
I met with 2 different rehab counselors who work with the disabled
and people reentering the work force after an injury. I have gotten
several good candidates."
Fire
Testing by Outside Companies
Question:
"We
monitor a lot of fire systems being serviced by other companies. We
wanted input on using passwords or passcodes for the techs. Those of
you that use a password for techs (from other service companies) how
is it working?
One
response was:
"we
require all techs to have an ID with us to take any account out of service",
also " We require that when a system is tested that the tech at the
location call us to check signals & to be put back on line".
Handling
Two Way Accounts:
Question:
"Do
you know of any central station streamlining the process of two-way
voice call handling via the PBX?"
Responses
were product specific.
Helpful
Tips
Lightning
tips: "tighten all your grounds, consider fiber optics, surge
protectors for your cable modems."
Hiring/Screening
A
major topic that is frequently addressed and which will be the topic
of an article on the Operations Management section of the web site.
How
to Become UL
Question:
"Our
central station is not UL. Has anyone recently become UL that can tell
us what they look for? We are currently crowed for space and may build
another building. If possible, we would like the building to meet UL
requirements and pass inspections that they might have".
Javier
Olarte with UL responded:
-
"I
will be happy to assist you with any questions that you may have regarding
how to get listed for central station services. Please contact me
at Javier.Olarte@us.ul.com."
-
In
addition, CSAA, in conjunction with UL, is offering a seminar to help
non-UL Listed central stations become listed. Click here
for more information.
Ideas
for Incentive Programs
Question:
"I
have been asked to come up with some incentive programs, any suggestions?"
Many
responses:
We
will be doing an article on this issue.
Measuring
Employee Production
Question:
"I
am having difficulty finding a program that measures employee production
in our central station?"
Response:
-
"for
full function operators, signals and telephone time must be measured
together", and
-
there
were specific software recommendations for report creation.
Newsletters
Question:
Response:
-
"The
most common mistake companies make with newsletters is not having
a clear idea of what they want the newsletter to accomplish and who
the proper audience is ." and "
-
Newsletters
are always a benefit, whether to customers or to employees. The trick
is to commit the time and resources to not just do one, but to do
a continuing succession".
Paper
Trails
Question:
"How
long do you keep information"
Response:
"There
are several interrelated issues; records for the sake of accuracy, records
for the peace of mind of legal counsel, records for the accounting department
and accurate billing, and those required by UL , FM, IRI or other AHJ's.
Know what your requirements are and remember that just keeping the information
is not enough, you've got to be able to retrieve them when needed and
this is a bigger problem. For instance have a new contract instead of
a succession of change orders, it keeps just one document to keep active
track of".
Policies
and Procedure Manuals
There
was a offer to share information and the CSAA offered
to be the clearing house for those who wish to share. All the responses
will be discussed at the Management Seminar in May and by mid-summer
there should be available a model to share with each other.
Practicing
Safe Email
Comment:
"one
good point is not to open attachments unless you know the sender and
what they sent".
Click
here to access the Virus
Information section.
Requests
for Assistance
Question:
"We
are in the process of setting up a central station in Asia. My company
is currently considering the purchase of several central station receivers.
Any input/suggestion or experience you can provide regarding receivers
will be greatly appreciated".
Restored
AC Power Losses
Question:
"What
do other Central Stations do with AC Power losses that have restorals
programmed?"
Among
the responses:
"If
the control/comm is programmed correctly, a restore should indicate
that whatever trouble condition existed before is now restored, requiring
no further action"
Setting
Up Panel Downloading for Several Workstations
Question:
"I
am wondering if anyone is setup to allow several computers to access
different panel software packages"
Response:
"we
have the panel programming software installed on an NT server that allows
multi-user access to the server".
Shift
Differential
Question:
"How
many companies are actually paying a specific shift differential, or
do you just give a salary? Ifyou do give shift differential, do you
pay it on vacation or sick time used?"
Many
responses including:
-
"It
is important that you make the differential a shift differential that
stays with the shift, not the person",
-
"If
you want to staff the overnight with good, quality, experience people
and keep your lost time incidents to a minimum a shift differential
of at least $1.00 does wonders"
-
"We
currently run stable 8 hour shifts and do not pay any shift differential,"
and
-
"we
pay a shift differential but only when they work that shift, not for
sick or vacation."
Training
Question:
"I
have just been given the responsibility of trainer. I was wondering
if anyone had any tips on how to get started. For training on a daily
or weekly basis."
Response:
-
"I
would be happy to send you the job descriptions of our trainers,"
and
-
"SIA
has an excellent APCO/SIA training course and there are several excellent
books and tapes by various training companies",
-
also
a number of long responses that had the responding company's training
programs.
Vehicle
Tracking/Remote Communications
Question:
"We
have a need to better track the location of our technician vehicles
and to better communicate/transmit data to our techs out in the field."
There
were responses from our member companies who have these systems
for sale.
Video
Monitoring
Question:
"We
are looking at doing video monitoring in our central station. What do
you recommend?"
There
were a number of responses citing specific products and their good
and bad points.
Watershed
Protection
Question:
"How
are other central stations protecting their equipment (water shed) under
UL Standards when they have a wet fire suppression system (sprinkler
system)?"
Response:
-
"During
a UL inspection 3 years ago this issue came up. We installed a plexiglass
umbrella over the cabinets so that a sprinkler system discharge would
not get inside the cabinets. This type shield has been used in the
commercial nuclear plants for years to guard critical electrical components
in sprinkler-protected areas. UL subsequently examined the umbrella
and approved it." and
-
"UL
Canada allows the station to either remove heads (plug them) or use
rain hoods to protect electronics."
Y2K
Question:
"What
is everyone doing to prepare"
Responses
were many and a conference call was scheduled and chaired by Jack O'Brien
with SecurityLink.
The
agenda covered a review of the info on Y2K, recovery plans vs. contingency
plans, 100 hour plans, readiness/state/checklists, review of potential
scenarios, central station dependencies and drills/rehearsals and timelines.During
the call it was suggested that Central Stations that were in earlier
time zones advise via the listserver any problems incurred.This was
done throughout the Y2K "real-time" experience with great assistance
from Cliff Dice of Dice Corporation and many others.
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