Communication has changed a lot, especially over the last 20-25 years!
We have gone from everyone having a home phone….to no one having a home phone.  We have gone from talking to everyone….to texting everyone.  The alarm industry has done our best to keep up.
For the last two decades, Guard Tronic has offered emailing to communicate signals, or lack of signals from your security system. Â
We have offered texting for over ten years, and two-way texting for a couple of years.  This allows us to text you an event from your system, and then you responding to that text….without having to receive a phone call. We wanted to take a minute and explain the options, especially as they apply to fire alarm, trouble, and supervisory signals.
Unless you have a UL Listed mercantile burglar alarm system, there are very few standards on how we should communicate your events to you. The Monitoring Association (TMA) created a verification standard that alarm companies try to follow titled CS-V-01 (Central Station Verification 01). It is a best practices to not only standardize the communication methods, but also help reduce false alarms.  It allows for verification via a phone line or more modern communications methods, such as texting.
NFPA addresses each signal type. For example, here is what the 2013 version (referenced in Oklahoma) says about the central station’s handling of a fire trouble signal:
NFPA 72, 26.3.8.4 Trouble Signals. Upon receipt of trouble signals or other signals pertaining solely to matters of equipment maintenance of the alarm systems, the central station shall perform the following actions:
(1)*Communicate immediately with persons designated by the subscriber
The standard requires communication to the responsible party, but does NOT state how that communication is delivered. Most industry experts would argue that it should be communicated in a method that is most acceptable to the responsible party.  To most of us, that would be via text.
It is always Guard Tronic’s goal to comply will all adopted and referenced standards, but it is also our goal to keep our clients 100% satisfied.  It is often hard to do both at the same time. Many responsible parties would rather us NOT call them at 3:00 a.m. to inform them that their power is out at the office, their battery is low, or any other issue that they have no control over and cannot fix at that hour.  Many would rather us send them an email or text to let them know. Â
We will comply with your wishes in terms of how we communicate with you, but will ask you to send us those wishes in writing, if those wishes could be seen as being in conflict with applicable codes or standards.
Still have questions?  We would love to explain your options to you.
Guard Tronic, Inc.
(800) 542-7866
info@guardtronic.com