Security System Maintenance

Why maintain everything together

Many sites end up with several security systems added at different times by different companies: an alarm from one installer, cameras from another, a door entry panel that came with the building. Each one gets forgotten in its own way, and nobody checks how they work together.

A combined visit looks at the site as a whole. It is also more practical: one booking, one engineer, one report, and one person who understands how your systems connect.

What a combined visit covers

• Intruder alarm: panel log, batteries, detectors, contacts, siren and signalling tested.
• CCTV: drives, recording, camera image by day and night, and remote viewing checked.
• Access control: readers, fobs, locks, door closers and exit buttons tested on every door.
• Door entry: call panel, handsets or app, and the door release checked end to end.
• Network and power: PoE switches, UPS units and the links between systems.
• Users: old fobs, codes and app accounts removed for people who have left.

The links between systems

The most common problems on mixed sites are at the joins. A maglock that should release when the fire alarm activates has lost its interface. Cameras that should record on an alarm trigger have stopped doing so after a recorder update. A UPS that should keep the recorder running in a power cut has a dead battery. These are easy to miss when each system is looked at on its own, and they are exactly what a combined visit checks.

Where doors are fitted with access control, we pay particular attention to free exit and emergency release, because safe exit must never depend on a security system working.

Systems from any installer

We maintain systems we did not fit, from alarm panels such as Pyronix and Texecom to Hikvision cameras and Paxton access control. If a system needs specialist access, such as an unknown engineer code or recorder password, we explain the options before anything is changed.

Frequency and coverage

Most mixed sites suit a yearly or twice yearly visit, depending on how busy the building is and what insurers ask for. If you only have one system, the alarm servicing or CCTV servicing pages are a better fit. Visits run from our Chatham base across about 30 miles for homes and 60 miles for businesses.

Who a combined visit suits

Combined maintenance is most useful where several systems protect one building. Typical examples are small offices with an alarm, cameras and a fob-controlled front door; blocks of flats with door entry, communal CCTV and access control on bin stores or car parks; and homes where a video door entry panel, an alarm and cameras were added over the years by different people.

Landlords and managing agents often find it useful for another reason: a single written record covering every system in the building, which is easier to keep on file and to hand to insurers. For businesses, it means one visit to arrange with staff instead of three, and one engineer who can tell you whether a problem is in the alarm, the camera system or the door.