Question 1

Is an alarm certificate of compliance required by law?

Accepted Answer

No law requires a certificate of compliance for an intruder alarm in the way the Electrical Installation Regulations require one for wiring. The alarm certificate comes from the industry standard, SAIDSA's Bylaw 5, and is issued by SAIDSA member installers for systems that meet it. Its force is contractual: insurers write an approved alarm into the policy conditions, ask for the certificate at inception or after a claim, and can repudiate where the condition was not met. Estates and body corporates ask for it when approving an installation. What is required by law is that the installer be registered with PSIRA, since installing security equipment is a security service under the Act, and that any mains wiring be certified by a registered person. Omni Field keeps the alarm certificate with the installation record and tracks the installer's PSIRA registration alongside it.

Question 2

What does Bylaw 5 cover?

Accepted Answer

Bylaw 5 is SAIDSA's minimum standard for the design and installation of intruder detection systems. It addresses the placement and coverage of detectors so that the likely entry routes are protected, the siting of the control panel and keypads away from easy reach, mains power with battery backup sized to keep the system running through an outage, tamper protection on the panel and the signalling device, reliable signalling to the monitoring centre, and the documentation that must be handed to the client on completion, including the zone list and the user instructions. It is revised from time to time and the current edition is available from the association. An installation that meets it can be certified by a SAIDSA member. Omni Field does not replace the standard; it keeps the completed certificate, the zone list and the photographs of the panel and signalling device on the job record.

Question 3

Why does my insurer want the alarm certificate after a burglary?

Accepted Answer

Because the policy usually contains an alarm warranty: a condition that an approved alarm system was installed, maintained, monitored and armed at the time of the loss. After a claim the assessor checks the condition was met, and the installer's certificate of compliance is the evidence that the system was installed to the accepted standard. The monitoring company provides the arming and signalling records. Without the certificate the insurer may query or reduce the claim, and the client's first call is to the installer, often years after the job, asking for paperwork. An installer who can send the certificate, the zone list and the handover record within the hour keeps the client; one who has to search a van or a filing box may not. Omni Field stores those documents against the client and the address and lets the client retrieve them through the portal without phoning.

Question 4

Does an alarm installer need PSIRA registration as well?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Installing, servicing and maintaining security equipment is a security service under the Private Security Industry Regulation Act, so the installer must be registered with PSIRA as an individual and the business must be registered as a security service provider, renewed each year. SAIDSA membership is separate and voluntary, and it is what allows the business to issue the Bylaw 5 certificate. Where the installation involves mains wiring, the electrical work must be certified by a registered person under the Electrical Installation Regulations, which is a third registration with a third regulator. A security installer therefore carries up to three registrations that clients, insurers and estates may ask about, each with its own renewal. Omni Field holds all of them on the technician's certification record with expiry alerts, and can block dispatch to a job that requires one that has lapsed.

Question 5

How often should an alarm system be serviced?

Accepted Answer

Insurers and monitoring companies commonly expect an annual service: a battery test and replacement on its cycle, a walk test of every detector, a check of the tamper circuits and a signalling test to the monitoring centre, with the results recorded. Some policies make an annual service a condition of the alarm warranty, and some estates require it for the installation to remain approved. For the installer the annual service is also the commercial relationship: it is when a failing detector or an ageing panel is found and quoted, and when the client's contact details and user list are refreshed. Treating each installation as a recurring job rather than a once-off keeps clients in certificate and keeps the installer in front of them. Omni Field runs the service as a recurring job, reminds the client by WhatsApp or email before the visit, and records the test results on the job card.

SAIDSA Bylaw 5 and the alarm system certificate of compliance

What Bylaw 5 is

Why insurers ask for the certificate

What the installer should keep

What Omni Field does about this

Questions

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