New Scottish Legislation for Fire and Smoke Alarms
Scottish legislation has changed. Introduced in February 2019, the change applies to all households in Scotland and must be met by February 2021. The new Scottish legislation states that an interlinked Fire and Smoke alarm system must be fitted in your property and that there should be adequate Carbon Monoxide protection.
This legislative change to the Tolerable Standard covers all homes, both in the private and social housing sectors. The standard now requires a fully interconnected LD2 Fire and Smoke alarm system:
• One smoke alarm installed in the room most frequently used for general daytime living purposes
• One smoke alarm in every circulation space on each storey, such as hallways and landings
• One heat alarm installed in every kitchen
Fire and Smoke alarms must be interconnected and this can be achieved via traditional cabling methods or wirelessly. This new legislation also requires a Carbon Monoxide detector to be installed where there is a fuel-burning appliance (such as boilers, fires, heaters and stoves) or where there is a flue. Homeowners and landlords must comply to the new Scottish legislation by February 2021.
If you already have Fire and Smoke alarms installed in your property, check that they are interlinked. If you have an alarm system but it does not currently meet the new requirements, you can expand your system with wireless interconnection. By having an interconnected system, the whole alarm system will be triggered if one alarm is activated meaning you are alerted immediately in the event of a fire.
If you need to expand your current alarm system, or if access to a permanent live is difficult, tamper proof longlife battery powered alarms can be used in place of main powered alarms with the tamper proof long-life battery back-up, providing they can be interconnected. The Aico 600 Series Fire and Smoke alarms are battery powered units that meet this requirement, whereas the Aico 3000 Series is the mains powered equivalent.