FIRE ALARMS: the missing pieces - Electrical Business Magazine

Electrical
Business THE AUTHORITATIVE VOICE OF
CANADA’S ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY
May 2007
Volume 43 • Issue 5
ELECTRICAL BUSINESS is the magazine of the Canadian
electrical industry. It reports on the news and publishes
articles in a manner that is informative and constructive.
Editor
Anthony Capkun - acapkun@clbmedia.ca
Publisher
John MacPherson - jmacpherson@clbmedia.ca
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EB Editorial Advisory Board
Tom Crist, Kerry Heid, Ron Bergeron, Stephen Tatrallyay,
Dan Mott, John Vickery, Ian Dempsey and Pierre Dowd
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Agreement 40063602 ISSN 0013-4244
Printed in Canada
Last issue, we discussed how some
jurisdictions around the world are
considering banning, or have
already banned, the sale of incandescent
bulbs (“Pity the poor incandescent”,
page 25). At the time the article was
written, it looked as though Ontario
was poised to become the first province
in Canada to follow suit (or should I
say, jump on the bandwagon?).
Sure enough, the Ontario government—specifically
Dwight Duncan
and Laurel Broten, ministers of energy
and environment, respectively—gleefully
announced last month that
Ontario will do what everyone else is
doing: ban the sale of incandescent
light bulbs by 2012.
“It’s lights out for old, inefficient
bulbs in Ontario,” said Duncan. (How
original. By the way, this is what
Ontario’s ‘Culture of Conservation’
FEATURES
looks like in action.)
Not to be outdone, and figuring
there’s still lots of room on that
bandwagon, Ottawa’s Gary Lunn
and John Baird—ministers of natural
resources and environment, respectively—announced,
“Canada’s New
Government is taking another important
step to protect the environment
and the health of Canadians by introducing
national standards for lighting
efficiency to come into force by 2012”.
Although it made this announcement
a week after Ontario made its proclamation,
at least Ottawa has chosen to focus
on efficiency standards rather than a type
of product, and what said product is or
isn’t expected to do. The feds say that
national standards for lighting efficiency
will be implemented through existing
mechanisms, including the Regulations
of Canada’s Energy Efficiency Act, and
18 Protecting life safety electrical
circuits in high-rise buildings
Fire protection in high-rise buildings has come a long way—including
electrical life safety circuits—thanks to product innovation and codes/
standards evolution. However, as they become increasingly complex,
it’s a serious responsibility to make sure all fire protection systems are
designed and synchronized to function when needed.
REGIONAL FOCUS
9 Western Update
TILMA takes its first steps in Alberta and British Columbia, CSA and IEEE
converge on Calgary for a week’s worth of events, top apprentices are
recognized, Manitoba tops in geothermal, and more.
From the editor ▼
The lights go out in 2012
ON THE COVER & PAGE 12
Fire alarms: the missing pieces
developed with industry and provincial/
territorial governments.
Thankfully, Ottawa also recognizes
that a complete ban on incandescents is
impractical at this time, and will make
allowances in various applications,
ranging from certain medical lighting
situations to oven lights.
This is as it should be. The climate is
important (Al Gore told us so in “An
Inconvenient Truth”), but the intelligent
way to go about handling the situation
is not by categorically vilifying
products on the market—like
Ontario—but rather focusing on performance
requirements with which we,
as both consumers and suppliers, can
be content.
CONTENTS
Submitted by EB editorial advisor, Ron Bergeron, our cover feature aims to explain all
the nuances involved with installing and maintaining fire alarm systems, not to mention
tackle the questions revolving around who can design, install, test and verify them. One
thing is certain: the requirements are many. If the various conditions and rules disturb
you, then don’t get into fire alarm repair, maintenance or testing. Otherwise, read on.
Photo by Jacqueline Milner, www.image-inephotography.com, with the help of our friends at Bergeron Electric.
page 18
DEPARTMENTS
4 Letters to the Editor
4 Industry News
8 Personalities
14 It’s Your Business
Some tax strategies to think about
17 Meet the Players
Techspan’s Frank Dunnigan
20 Tools for the Trade
Latest in hand and power tools
22 Products
Signalling and transformers
24 Library
25 Marketplace
26 Code File
Frequently asked questions
26 Code Conundrum
page 20
www. mag.com MAY 2007 3