Security Sales & Integration April 2023 - 21

jeff zwirn@alarmexpert.com
(alarm contractor) can provide to me. How can an
alarm contractor " represent " that they have explained
the full range of equipment and services
to consumers without including a code-compliant
fi re alarm system in their explanation?
Surely, fi re danger in the home and the known
life-safety benefi ts of a code-compliant system
are mission critical and undisputed for all families.
When a fi re alarm system complies with
NFPA 72, the professional and technical community
of the alarm industry knows. Meanwhile,
no consumer can be expected to know NFPA 72,
and that's one of the crucial duties certifi ed and
licensed alarm contractors are required to know
and adhere to before they can become authorized,
certifi ed, and licensed.
Are Your Devices Really 'Supplemental'?
Here's a paragraph of the alarm contractor's agreement
that puts the ball in the consumers' court:
I have (being the consumer) sole responsibility for
complying with any and all codes, laws and standards
that may apply to the installation. In gross
contrast to this preprinted text is that when a
consumer contracts with a certifi ed and licensed
alarm contractor, there is a reasonable expectation
that the alarm specialty contractors(s) will have
the requisite education, skills, knowledge, training,
and experience to be fully qualifi ed to provide
the services that they off er to the public.
If we were to apply this pattern to the electrical
industry, agreements would state that it is the
consumer's responsibility to know the National
Electrical Code (NEC). In the simplest terms,
this attempt to circumvent and shift statutory
duties onto consumers is nothing less than deceptive.
I've got one more example amplifying
this egregious pattern and practice of improperly
manipulating NFPA 72. Th e agreement states:
Any smoke and/or carbon monoxide detectors described
in this contract are supplemental devices
only and are not intended to be part of a primary
fi re alarm or carbon monoxide detection system.
Notably, no alarm contractor can just unilaterally
declare in writing that everything they are providing
for fi re alarm and carbon monoxide systems
is supplementary.
Th e code already prohibits this declaration as
only the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) can
make this determination, and in doing so, he/she
must declare in writing that the fi re alarm system
is supplementary ... or it's not. In other words, desecuritysales.com
spite
alarm contractors having the duty to comply
with NFPA 72's regulations as part of their
statutory duties and its licensing regulations, the
language that's been added into these agreements
purposefully attempts to shift fi re code duties
onto consumers who would never be expected
to know and interpret NFPA 72 and/or the requirements
set forth within all relevant chapters.
Th e audacity of directly and overtly taking the
position that its acceptable to circumvent NFPA
72 and in doing so, this act through its writings
which are subsumed in an alarm agreement,
eliminate alarm contractor liability is conduct
that smack of intentional wrongdoing. Th e practice
of inserting language into an agreement to
circumvent statutory duties and shift universally
recognized responsibilities onto unsuspecting
consumers and companies is one that does not
minimize liability at all; instead, it dramatically
increases it.
Treacherously, this conduct is done at the
expense of consumers who hired the alarm
contractor to help protect their family and/or
business from the very threats of an emergency
that a code-compliant fi re alarm system is technically
designed to focus on. At the same time,
these persons reasonably relied on the alarm
contractor to ensure that the fi re alarm systems
that they purchased from it complied with all
codes and standards that make up the framework
of why compliant NFPA 72 fi re alarm
systems help save lives or minimize serious
personal injury via early warning detection. If
alarm contractors continue to use these improper
methods, consumers will repeatedly be lured
into a real false sense of security.
No consumer can be
expected to know NFPA
72, and that's one of the
crucial duties certifi ed and
licensed alarm contractors
are required to know and
adhere to before they
can become authorized,
certifi ed, and licensed.
APRIL 2023 Security Sales & Integration
21
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Security Sales & Integration April 2023

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