Boxes a cause for alarm

Press, 16 August 1980, Page 7

Boxes a cause for alarm

Wellington reporter

There is a wrong way to install the glass panel in a manual fire alarm box, according to the Accident Compensation Commission. A recent check by the bulding supervisor of a big New Zealand concern found that more than half the alarm box glasses in buildings under his care had been installed inside-out. The . relevant standard (N + S 4561) stipulated the type of glass to be used for alarm boxes, the positioning and size ,of two crossscored lines on the glass, plus the fact that when the glass was installed the scoring should be on the inside and not on the outside. The scored lines made it easier to break the glass by weakening the surface which would be stretched when the glass was struck —the inside surface, the commission said.

If the scored lines were on the outside, they were on the surface which

would be compressed when struck, and so their weakening effect would be less. The commission said the glass would be more difficult to break, and so sounding the alarm might be delayed. To test whether the glass has'been installed properly, run a fingernail across the glass.