HOME ABOUT APPLICATIONS PRODUCTS SERVICES SUPPORT RESOURCES CONTACT US There is little argument that more buildings need to be assessed, upgraded and or otherwise certified that first responder’s communications, are not impeded in the event of an emergency yet, seemingly at every turn there are barriers that hold back full-scale code adoption, and solution deployment form happening. A recent series of social media posts highlighted these challenges and a recent panel at IWCE 2021 explored these challenges further, creating a list of “ 7 actions” that the industry at large needs to take … Follow these posts to discover their findings. #1 | Universally Adopting a “MISSON FIRST” Approach to inbuilding solution deployment challenges. Things are developing fast for the in-building life safety communications industry: Technology, Code Adoption, New Integrators … we are all working to overcome challenges, but all stakeholders need to never forget the Mission: Keeping critical RF communications available and working when and where it is needed most. This Mission First action actually came at the end of the panel’s session, and yet is really the true north of our efforts. Mission First is at the heart of our industry’s culture. This means that Technology, Code, Education, and Training, while very important, should not create barriers, but rather accelerate and scale the Mission’s outcomes. Referring to the Mission as a collective goal, Alan Perdue, CFO, FM, MIFireE of Safer Buildings Coalition puts it into perspective this way: “Our best chance to accomplish our collective goals will come from all of us working together. If every stakeholder is not involved and invested in the process, the results will continue to be all over the place. The panel agreed that the Mission First mindset starts with each of us and needs to be harmonized across the industry. Are you Mission First Focused? #2 | Create a Code Culture… a culture that seeks to harmonize the interpretation, adoption and implementation of life safety. Interpretation, Adoption, Enforcement of ERRCs Public Safety Codes are addressed slightly differently depending on the jurisdiction. While we all welcome the industry progress, these slight differences do create hurdles that will slow down said progress. Having to translate each AHJ’s expectation and identify the proper solution can get complicated and is a drag on the mission. “Harmonizing the AHJs expectation, across all the industry’s stakeholders, reduces complexity and will accelerate and scale the mission,” indicated panelist JP Plouffe of Honeywell, offering further insight, “ we have seen how efficiently the industry can respond to code by looking at legacy fire alarm life safety codes, there is little to no guesswork when designing and deploying fire alarms solutions because the code is universally understood by all.” Today, vague fire rating or survivability interpretation can make some ERRCs projects near impossible to deploy however, with increased uniformity in training and universally accepted interpretation, the industry will develop action number two. A “Harmonized Code Culture” that quickly addresses uniform interpretation of code and AHJ expectations. #3 | Meeting the Mission’s requirements requires more qualified Integrators and installers. We need an inviting “right stuff” mind set to attract and grow the market. Ask any in-building public safety integrator “ … what are the top 3 challenges on a typical install ?”, and you may just get 300! This strikes at the heart of the industry’s challenge. More buildings need to be validated or properly equipped to ensure first responder communications with the success of an installation being the responsibility of the integrator. Deron Bone of RF DAS systems gets it! Deron has a track record that must be the envy of the industry stating, “we complete hundreds of projects a year and never fail to pass a final … in this business it is critically important to understand every aspect of code, the RF environment you’re dealing with and the technology you’re deploying. This is getting more and more difficult as we work to meet accelerating demand. Ensuring we have the right stuff: people, knowledge, and technology is my #1 challenge! ” With the market demand increasing at a rate that outpacing the growth rate of new RF integrators, it is more important than to attract new integrators into the market and to do so by creating a proper pathway into the market. This includes our first two identified actions and creating a robust industry-wide, harmonized training effort. More on that training and education next. Contact Our Team 2101 NW 79th Avenue Miami, FL 33122 +1 (305) 884-8991 info@fiplex.com Pages Terms and Conditions of sale Terms and Conditions (for Suppliers) Company Contact Us Employee Login Customer Satisfaction Survey Form Fiplex Communications, Inc. © Copyright 2019. All Rights Reserved. We use cookies to improve website performance, facilitate information sharing on social media and offer advertising tailored to your interests. 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