Health and Safety

Change Of Time, Check If Your Smoke Alarms Are Fine

As the world draws back from social outings and spends more time indoors, it is important that households remain safe and have functioning smoke alarms that have been checked or replaced in the appropriate areas. Daylight savings is almost upon us and every year we have coordinated message from Lawrence & Hanson and the fire authorities promoting a lifesaving message.

“Change your clocks, change your batteries” — Although we’ve evolved dramatically since that message, it’s an important one to remember. Considering the digitalization of the world (and the fact that few still have clocks that need to be changed) it’s still a relevant message. I would consider “Change of time, check if it’s fine” as a modern approach as there are a plethora of smoke alarms that have been circulated throughout Australia and often homeowners are unaware of when smoke alarms were installed (let alone whether it’s compliant) The reason why these standards exist is that their sole purpose is to ensure the safety of every Australian citizen.

This year on Daylight Savings, we implore you to spread an important message coming from Australias leading electrical wholesaler – we need to regularly check and change smoke alarm batteries to a high-quality, long-life battery or replace the whole thing to an interconnected photoelectric smoke alarm.

People are spending more time at home cooking, powering devices and the potential for fires to occur within the home has greatly increased. Working smoke alarms provide the critical early warning needed to save lives and minimize property damage when fires start.

Interconnected photoelectric alarms are the only way to protect your home from a fire, as its ability to detect smoke is much faster than ionization smoke alarms. As time is of the essence, it will give families a better chance of handling or escaping the fire unharmed.

Fire & Rescue NSW is encouraging all citizens to ReAlarm their homes by replacing old, outdated smoke alarms with interconnected alarms in every bedroom, living space (including hallways and stairways) and even the garage in their home.

“We know the time we ask everyone to change their smoke alarm batteries seems to come around quicker every year, but we can’t emphasize enough the importance of working smoke alarms,” acting deputy chief officer at the MFB Rob Purcell has said. People are four times more likely to die in a house fire when they don’t have a working smoke alarm.

Homeowners should know that legal requirement for every home to have at least one working smoke alarm, and unless the battery is changed, only a working smoke detector can save lives. It only takes three minutes for a fire to take hold and fill your home with deadly smoke.

Fire Safety Recommendations:

• Install a photoelectric alarm. They are the best at detecting the types of fires that cause death — smoldering fires.

• All smoke alarms installed must meet the requirements of Australian Standard AS 3786.

• Check your smoke alarm every month by pressing the test button with a broom handle.

• Smoke alarms should always be tested with actual canned smoke. Click here to purchase

• Clean your alarm with a vacuum cleaner every six months.

• Depending on your smoke alarm – if it has a removable alkaline battery, replace it every year during daylight savings. If it has a lithium battery, you should replace the entire unit every ten years.

It is also critical that all contractors and homeowners be aware of their state or territory laws regarding fire safety and smoke alarms.

Click here to see our full range of smoke detectors available across Australia and if you’re a contractor or an account holder, we have double points on one of Australia’s premier brands Legrand. For those that don’t know, Sparky Plus is the biggest loyalty program in electrical and members have less than a week to score double points of the best photoelectric flush-mount smoke alarms going around.