Nick Atkinson, National Account Manager for Trade at FireAngel, explores how wholesalers can help contractors and housing providers meet their responsibilities by offering more than just products on shelves.

In the domestic fire detection market, compliance is often viewed as something achieved once devices are installed. But in reality, genuine compliance goes far beyond simply fitting alarms to walls or ceilings. It is a process that continues through testing, commissioning, handover, and ongoing maintenance, and getting each stage right is essential to ensuring life-saving protection and avoiding serious liability.

Compliance journey

For electrical wholesalers, understanding the full compliance journey isn’t just useful, it’s vital to providing the right solutions, advice, and products to customers. In the UK, BS 5839-6:2019+A1:2020 sets out the recognised standard for domestic fire detection and alarm systems. The guidance applies across social housing, private rental properties, houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), and new-build developments, providing clear recommendations for system design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance.

Ultimately, the aim is to ensure systems are reliable, properly installed, and capable of providing critical protection when needed most.

While product selection and system design form the foundations of compliance, there remains a misconception that simply supplying certified devices is enough to guarantee a compliant system. But as wholesalers will appreciate, the products themselves are only part of the picture. The final stages of testing, commissioning, and routine checks are equally important, and they are often where compliance gaps emerge if standards and best practices are not followed.

Even the most advanced detection system depends entirely on correct installation, testing, and consideration of real-world factors. BS 5839-6 highlights the importance of testing and commissioning of detectors using test apparatus as a vital safety requirement, not an optional extra. For wholesalers, that means understanding the wider process and being equipped to support customers with product advice that reflects the realities of working on site.

Testing verifies that detectors respond as intended, that interconnected devices communicate effectively, and that both primary and backup power supplies meet performance standards. However, real-world factors like detector placement in consideration of numerous factors such as proximity to, heating, ventilation, light fittings, walls, beams and the highest point within the protected space can all affect system reliability. If these aren’t addressed during installation and commissioning, even the best products can fall short, leaving housing providers, landlords, and contractors exposed to compliance failures and increased safety risks.

That’s why achieving compliance is a shared responsibility across the supply chain. Manufacturers, wholesalers, contractors, and housing providers all play a part. Wholesalers are often the first port of call for product advice, making it essential to have a solid understanding of standards like BS 5839-6 and the role that proper system design, installation, and maintenance play in long-term compliance.

Consistency is key

From a wholesaler perspective, this shared responsibility also extends to what is stocked, specified, and supplied. In a sector where product availability can vary between branches and regions, consistency is critical. Supplying the right products at the right time, and ensuring they meet current standards, helps installers avoid last-minute substitutions that can undermine system design or lead to non-compliant installations.

This is particularly relevant in social housing, local authority and large-scale residential projects, where compliance obligations are closely scrutinised and documentation trails are increasingly important. In these environments, wholesalers are not simply fulfilling orders, but acting as a key link between specification, installation, and long-term system performance.

Compliance doesn’t stop at installation. Over time, environmental factors, alarm tampering, battery degradation, or system interference can all compromise performance. That makes routine testing and maintenance essential, something wholesalers can help reinforce through customer conversations and product recommendations.

For housing providers and landlords, maintaining compliance requires robust processes for ongoing checks, reporting faults, and carrying out repairs. The latest connected technologies, such as those developed by FireAngel, can assist by providing real-time alerts of faults, tampering, or system issues, offering extra peace of mind for residents and property owners. But these tools complement, rather than replace, professional inspections and good practice.

To help strengthen this link between compliant specification and compliant supply, FireAngel has developed its Approved Stockist Scheme, working with selected wholesalers to support best practice across the distribution stage. The initiative is designed to give installers and housing providers greater confidence that the products they are sourcing are appropriate for regulated domestic applications and aligned with current standards.

By working more closely with approved supply partners, manufacturers can help reduce the lack of clarity at the point of purchase and reinforce the importance of correct system design, particularly on more complex projects. This approach also supports wholesalers by positioning them as informed, trusted suppliers within an increasingly regulated fire safety landscape.

High standards

With fire detection and carbon monoxide alarm requirements becoming more stringent across the UK housing sector, wholesalers have an increasingly important role to play. By stocking reliable, compliant solutions, providing technical insight, and promoting best practice, wholesalers can help installers, contractors, and landlords ensure systems meet the required standards from day one and continue to protect throughout their lifetime.

At FireAngel, we understand that compliance is about more than supplying certified products. Our connected technologies and advanced detection solutions are designed to support wholesalers, installers, and housing providers with system monitoring, real-time alerts, and enhanced fault detection, ensuring protection continues long after installation.

Domestic fire safety compliance is not a one-off task. It’s an ongoing process, built on collaboration across the supply chain, rigorous testing, careful commissioning, and long-term system monitoring. Wholesalers are a crucial part of that chain, providing not just products, but the knowledge and support that help contractors and housing providers get it right at every stage.

For further details, click here

Find more industry features here

The post How can wholesalers help contractors achieve fire safety compliance? appeared first on Professional Electricians Wholesaler.

As the fire safety landscape continues to evolve, electrical wholesalers are in a prime position to lead the way. Here, Geraint Edwards from FireAngel, explains why stocking hybrid fire and carbon monoxide (CO) alarm systems, which combine mains-powered reliability with battery-powered flexibility, enables wholesalers to offer installers future-proof solutions that are easy to install, scalable, and regulation-ready.

Recent Home Office figures reveal that smoke alarms raised the alert in just 47% of dwelling fires in 2024, with nearly a third failing to operate at all, often due to poor positioning, inadequate maintenance, or lack of coverage. These findings reinforce the need for more reliable, interconnected systems that go beyond passive compliance and actively improve safety outcomes.

This growing demand places contractors under increasing pressure to deliver intelligent, whole-home protection that exceeds regulatory minimums. And it’s where wholesalers have a key role to play, by providing access to versatile, future-ready alarm systems that empower installers to meet both evolving standards and practical safety requirements.

Meeting rising demand

The pressure on contractors to deliver beyond basic compliance is intensifying. New legislation, updated guidance, and increasing tenant expectations are all shaping how fire and CO protection is approached across housing sectors, from social and private rentals to homeowner properties. Hybrid alarm systems offer an ideal response, allowing installers to meet best practice standards while keeping installations fast and disruption-free.

By stocking a comprehensive hybrid range, wholesalers can support their customers in fulfilling both current regulations and anticipated future needs. These systems are particularly suited to retrofit applications, where running new cabling is either impractical or too costly. For contractors, hybrid systems offer a flexible, reliable way to interlink alarms without invasive wiring, an increasingly appealing proposition for time-pressed tradespeople.

Simplifying installation

With hybrid networks, mains-powered and battery-operated smoke, heat, and CO alarms can be wirelessly interconnected. When one alarm activates, they all sound, providing full-property alerts that dramatically improve resident safety. For installers, this means simplified system design, easier placement, and no need for trunking or channelling, especially in occupied homes or heritage buildings.

These time-saving benefits are a strong selling point for wholesalers. Offering hybrid alarm solutions can help your trade customers reduce labour time, limit return visits, and handle more jobs with confidence, translating into stronger repeat business for branches.

Tapping into the smart home trend

Consumers are also driving demand for connected safety devices that integrate with broader smart home ecosystems. Hybrid alarm systems that support connected features, like remote monitoring, instant notifications, and maintenance alerts, are increasingly sought after by landlords, property managers, and residents.

For wholesalers, stocking alarms with connected capabilities adds further value to your product offering. These advanced models enable housing providers to receive real-time updates on alarm status, from low batteries and missed tests to tampering or actual alerts, creating opportunities for upselling premium, app-enabled systems.

There is also a growing awareness of the needs of vulnerable occupants, such as elderly residents or those with mobility or cognitive impairments, who may be less able to respond quickly to an isolated alarm. Interlinked, remotely monitored hybrid systems allow family members, carers, or landlords to be alerted instantly if there’s an issue, adding peace of mind and demonstrating the real-world value of these solutions. By highlighting these use cases, wholesalers can show installers how connected technology isn’t just convenient, but life-saving.

The compliance advantage

As the fire safety sector moves towards more proactive and preventative approaches, stocking alarms that help customers maintain compliance is a must. From Scotland’s national requirement for interlinked alarms to emerging guidance in England and Wales, the direction of travel is clear: more connected, comprehensive systems are becoming the standard.

Wholesalers who understand these drivers and can support contractors with the right product selection will be well placed to grow trust and loyalty within their customer base.

A win-win for wholesalers and customers

By offering hybrid alarm systems, wholesalers can support electrical professionals with practical solutions that align with real-world installation challenges and shifting compliance requirements. Hybrid alarms offer the best of both worlds, hardwired robustness and wireless flexibility, and help contractors deliver installations that are safer, smarter, and more future-ready.

Wholesalers who stay ahead of these trends position themselves not just as suppliers, but as knowledgeable partners in fire safety. Stocking the right products, with the right advice, gives installers the confidence to tackle projects of all sizes, driving repeat sales and long-term loyalty.

Further details are available here

Find more industry feature articles here

The post Why stocking hybrid fire and carbon monoxide (CO) alarm systems makes perfect sense appeared first on Professional Electricians Wholesaler.

ESP reveals some worrying evidence that not all fire design schemes are up to the standard required to ensure the safety of buildings and their inhabitants.

In the same way that diligence needs to be adhered to when procuring electrical products to ensure their compliance with the latest regulations, it is also essential that projects which require fire protection are also designed, installed and commissioned to the correct standard BS5839.

Substandard

ESP is all too aware of the issue with counterfeit products and products that are uncertified (and potentially unsafe) making their way onto the marketplace. Now, having reviewed completed fire system designs from various sources, it has come to ESP’s attention that not all designs are equal. ESP would like to offer wholesalers and installers some advice on the types of issues to be aware of, after finding substandard work as a result of potentially inexperienced and/or under qualified designers.

ESP has seen:

• Fire system design drawings marked up without sufficient AFD (Automatic Fire Detection) Coverage
• Incorrect products specified
• Fire designs ‘completed’ and quoted within 30 minutes
• Supporting technical documentation and proposals missing

The last two points are ones that are easily identifiable for the wholesaler and installer. Fire designs ‘completed’ in minutes are unlikely to have had the enquiry documentation evaluated correctly. Fire designs should always come with additional technical documentation such as a ‘Fire System Proposal’. This will tell any ‘responsible person’ or installer how their fire alarm system should work and ultimately how it should be installed.

If this is not provided as part of a design, how sure can we be that the design has been executed successfully?

Those who install to a poorly designed system and sign it off, are also liable for any damages or death that may arise from any subsequent fires.

Expert guidance 

Already providing wholesalers and contractors with free fire training programmes, ESP took the decision to further enhance its commitment to helping the sector with a dedicated design service which allows contractors access to a free of charge fire systems design facility.

The service is available to any size of business, from local electricians to national contracting companies. The aim is to provide expertise in choosing the right products and solutions to create a scheme that meets all the requirements and objectives of the project in question, and to ensure that it is compliant with all the relevant regulations and standards.

From an initial enquiry to discuss the requirements, the next stage will be one of information and measurements gathering. For larger and more complex design schemes, a visit to site will be carried out for a detailed survey. With all the relevant information gathered, including drawings and specifications, a suitable design proposal for an appropriate fire system will be created and supplied to the client along with a quotation.

Two-way interaction between customer and the ESP design team throughout the process will be of paramount importance to ensure the design scheme meets all the necessary requirements.

Key points

ESP is welcoming enquiries from contractors, as well as wholesalers who supply to the professional electrical contractor market, and a dedicated email address has been set up for enquiries: design@espuk.com.

ESP has produced a handy, pocket-size guide to highlight the key points of the latest version of BS5389 Part 1: 2017. This standard deals with the code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire detection and fire alarm systems in non-domestic premises. ESP’s guide is aimed at those designers and installers who need simple guidance to help with the selection, spacing and location of fire devices.

The 24-page colour booklet is highly visual and very straightforward to follow. It covers the different categories of fire alarm and fire detection systems, plus the coverage and positioning for smoke detectors, heat detectors, manual call points, visual indication devices (VIDs) such as strobes, and visual alarm devices (VADs).

Details of ESP’s three fire alarm systems are also briefly explained – 2-Wire, Addressable and Conventional fire alarm systems – including the requisite cabling for each. A reminder of ESP’s free design and fire systems commissioning services is also featured.

The guide can be downloaded from the ESP website – www.espuk.com.

It can also be accessed via the Scolmore Group app, under the ESP Catalogues section here

The post Playing with fire – ESP’s guide to fire alarm systems design appeared first on Professional Electricians Wholesaler.

Jake Green, Head of Technical Engagement with Scolmore Group, considers the necessity of maintaining signal integrity for life safety services such as fire alarm systems and emergency lighting systems.

In any electrical installation, it is necessary to give adequate support to cables. The reasons for this are twofold:

• Maintenance of the signal pathway
• Reduce the risk of premature collapse to protect firefighters accessing a premises during fire.

Three specific life safety standards to be considered are:

• BS5266-1: 2016 Emergency lighting – Part 1: Code of practice for the emergency lighting of premises;
• BS5839-1: 2017 Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings Part 1: Code of practice for design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of systems in non-domestic premises; and
• BS8519: 2020 Selection and installation of fire-resistant power and control cable systems for life safety, fire-fighting and other critical applications – Code of practice.

Other relevant references will be made to the requirements of BS7671: 2018 Amd 2: Requirements for Electrical Installations.

Emergency lighting

Emergency lighting systems require installed cables to be able to withstand the effects of fire as well as remain in-situ for a period necessary to ensure safe egress of persons. To address these issues, Clause 8 of BS5266-1 covers wiring systems and circuits in general.

For self-contained emergency luminaires, there is no recommendation for fire-protected cables (clause 8.1), and the general requirements of BS7671 will apply. These include the need to support the wiring system in such a way that it is not liable to premature collapse (521.10.202).

However, where the emergency lighting system consists of a central battery, it is of critical importance that the quality of the installation, the fire-integrity of the cables and their supports is maintained. The risk of a loss of signal, and hence illuminance, is increased where poor installation practices are carried out (Note 1 Clause 8.2.1).

Clause 8.22 of BS5266-1 details the nature of cable types recognised as being acceptable. This clause details minimum cable survival times ranging from 60 minutes to 120 minutes.

Without suitable survival times for the support of such cables, it will be impossible to ensure circuit integrity. The methods of cable support and fixings should be non-combustible and such that circuit integrity will not be reduced below that afforded by the cable used (Clause 8.2.3). This means, for example, that where a cable is rated as ‘enhanced emergency lighting cables with inherently high resistance to attach by fire’, the support means should also be capable of performing its function for 120 minutes.

Furthermore, where cable management system support is provided by drop rods, the drop rod size should be calculated in accordance with the recommendations of BS8519.

Fire detection and fire alarm systems

The commentary to clause 26 of BS5839-1 recognises that all interconnections must operate correctly at the time of a fire. Clause 26.2 recommends that cables forming part of the critical path conform to certain standards. These include mineral insulated copper sheathed cables, cables conforming to BS7629-1, and the like.

Like the recommendations of BS5266-1, clause 26.2f) of BS5839-1 recommends that methods of cable support should be non-combustible and such that circuit integrity is not reduced below that afforded by the cable used, and that they should be able to withstand a similar temperature to that of the cable being supported. This recommendation, in effect, precludes the use of plastic cable clips, ties and trunking as means of cable support.

Fire-resistant power and control cable systems

As with both emergency lighting systems and fire detection and fire alarm systems, BS8519: 2020 addresses the need to ensure cable support systems are adequate to meet the fire survival times of the cables they support.

The recommendations found in BS8519 are like those detailed in both BS5266-1 and BS5839-1. However, additional guidance is provided where a bracket and rod system is used to support safety critical cable systems. Clause 16 of BS8519 recognises that the strength of steel is adversely affected by fire such that great care should be taken in determining the cross-sectional area of the steel rod drops.

Conclusion 

It is essential that great care is taken when installing cables supplying life safety systems, such as fire detection and fire alarm systems, emergency lighting systems and fire-fighting lifts. The installer must use appropriate cables and support systems to ensure that critical systems continue to function during fire.

Find out more here

The post The importance of maintaining signal integrity for life safety systems | Scolmore appeared first on Professional Electricians Wholesaler.