COMMENT
SURVEILLANCE STANDARDS
Matthew Holliday, Director of Approval Schemes at the National Security Inspectorate, explains how a range
of changes to standards in surveillance monitored alarm systems are helping to improve facilities’ protection
Technological advances are enabling
increasingly cost-e ective and flexible
solutions to combat the daily risks faced on site,
such as those posed to sta ed buildings, storage
facilities and power generating plants.
Protection measures for a variety of buildings
rely on a progressive mix of initial deterrence
against potential harm, followed by detection of
any subsequent incidents and response to them
– whether that is from an in-house security team,
commercial keyholding/guarding provider, or the
police.
Police alarm response can only be initiated
following a confirmed incident involving the
activation of a security system complying with
national Police policy requirements covering England,
Wales and Northern Ireland; similar arrangements
also apply in Scotland. This includes remote
signalling systems monitored by third-party approved
Alarm Receiving Centres (ARCs) and Remote Video
Response Centres – namely those meeting the
requirements of a UKAS-accredited Certification
Body, such as NSI.
Changes introduced last year to BS 8243 (covering
the design, installation and configuration of intruder
and hold-up alarm systems designed to generate
confirmed alarm conditions) now place an equal
focus on visual confirmation alongside traditional
confirmation methods, which may in turn o er fewer
false alarms and prove more appropriate in some
situations.
FMs can now take advantage of technological
advances to make use of police-compliant video
surveillance systems. Their benefits include linking
remote monitoring of site buildings with on-site audio
announcements to verbally warn anyone present.
12 JULY 2022
Conforming to recently revised standard BS
8418:2021, they also enable Remote Video Response
Centre (RVRC) operators to quickly and easily check
whether a detector activation is a genuine security
breach and pass any verified incidents on to police for
immediate manned response – in line with insurancerelated
requirements.
Some sites may already benefit from preexisting
security measures, including building
intruder alarms. Adding a BS 8418:2021-compliant
surveillance system will provide further
complementary protection.
CROSS-INDUSTRY APPROACH
Allocations of police URNs to third-party monitored
video surveillance systems are now expected to
increase significantly following a major revision of BS
8418:2015, the Code of practice for the installation
and remote monitoring of detector-activated CCTV
systems.
Following the original introduction of this British
Standard in 2003 and despite two subsequent
revisions (in 2010 and 2015) and more recent
amendments in 2017, it disappointingly did not result
in an increased number of monitored systems on
police response gaining compliance to BS 8418. Yet
the tangible opportunities clearly remained. This
led to a new cross-industry approach involving the
National Police Chiefs’ Council, supported by NSI.
Fresh ‘root and branch’ changes were duly adopted
in the latest version of the Standard, BS 8418:2021,
designed to tackle the previous limitations. These
included their perceived high cost and onerous
installation requirements, which had continued to
limit the adoption of BS 8418 systems and RVRC
services.
In this way, BS 8418 compliance will help reduce
false alarms and the number of 999 emergency calls
being made, both of which put pressure on police
resources.
BS 8418: TWO NEW SYSTEM TYPES
Two types of monitored system now qualify for
a police URN when certificated to the latest BS
8418:2021 ‘Design, installation, commissioning and
maintenance of detector-activated video surveillance
systems (VSS) – Code of practice’: Type A and Type A+.
Type A+, are ‘upper level’ systems, involving similar
technical and installation requirements to the earlier
2015 version of the Standard. These are designed
to suit insurance requirements for higher-risk
commercial, industrial, military, utilities and other
similar sites, and include tamper detection such as
detecting the removal from mounting and additional
protection for control equipment.
Type A are ‘standard’ systems. These involve the
use of image transmission to an RVRC and detection
techniques to screen out false alarms. Importantly
however, they do not ‘water down’ requirements for
lower risk sites. Rather, they must meet prescribed
technical standards for operations, including
detection and alarm transmission. It’s expected the
simpler installation and technology requirements of
Type A systems will encourage greater use of RVRCmonitoring.
ADDITIONAL AND REVISED STANDARDS
Both the ‘upper level’ Type A+ and ‘standard’ Type A
BS 8418-compliant systems operated by RVRCs will
need to comply with other standards including:
» BS 9518 ‘Processing of alarm signals by an alarm
receiving centre – Code of practice’. Published in
July 2021, it streamlines together visual, audio,
sequential and personal attack alarm requirements
in one document and takes over from previous RVRC
operational performance requirements.
» ‘BS 8243:2010 (mentioned above) has also been
revised, previous editions having su ered from similar
limitations to BS 8418 in being too prescriptive. A
redra ed version of BS 8243 was published in June
2021.
A 12-month transition period ends on 31st July
2022. During this period video surveillance system
alarm installations can comply with either the
2015 or 2021 edition of BS 8418. To be allocated a
URN a system must be installed and maintained by
a company independently approved by a UKASaccredited
Certification Body, such as NSI.
ADVICE & OPINION