Drax (UK) raises the bar for fire alarm maintenance standards

Online, May 19, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Drax (UK) Ltd, one of the UK's leading independent developers of integrated alarm management solutions, has launched IRIS (Internet Recording Information System), a new web-based service management system. This powerful service control and information system will help Drax (UK) to deliver industry-leading levels of maintenance support for fire detection and alarm installations and ensure that users can meet their statutory duty of care and adhere to health and safety guidelines whilst helping to reduce the number of unwanted fire signals.

"Enabling users to demonstrate that every possible step has been taken to protect both life and property has become much more important as a result of enforcement of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005," commented Alex Cother of Drax (UK). "However, having a maintenance contract is no guarantee that your fire alarm is being maintained to manufacturer or industry standards and we estimate that over 80% of all fire alarm maintainers routinely fail to achieve the standards described in BS5839 or obligations under the BAFE scheme or LPS1014. We developed IRIS in response to customer demands for proof of maintenance and FIA initiatives to raise safety standards across the industry. "

IRIS can be securely accessed using a standard web browser enabling Drax (UK) to manage and monitor every stage of the maintenance process from any authorised location around the clock. It documents every part of the maintenance cycle from logging and allocating service calls, both scheduled and emergency, through to the capture of customer signatures on the mobile terminals used by every technician. IRIS also enables customers to access detailed information about every service call, current and completed jobs and all recorded site visit history including electronic dockets with signatures showing who signed on-site acceptances. A full range of service and call out reports can be viewed, printed or converted to PDF format for long term archiving.

IRIS uses an SQL server database to ensure the integrity of data. The database is partitioned to ensure that queries and transactions can only be executed against the relevant customer and a raft of high level security measures have been adopted to protect confidential customer information. To meet the business continuity requirements of clients, all system data is securely backed up to three separate locations globally.

"As well as improving the utilisation of engineering resources to deliver a faster, personalised level of support to users, IRIS will enable our customers to check that scheduled maintenance is being performed and that service levels are being achieved," continued Alex Cother. "Drax (UK) is committed to delivering the highest level of support to customers and this new system will help to consolidate our position as one of the UK's leading independent providers of end-to-end alarm management solutions."