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SECURITY SYSTEMS NEWS JUNE 2011 www.securitysystemsnews.com FIRE SYSTEMS INSTALLATION 25 Survey: Many in N.Y. unaware of new CO law By Tess Nacelewicz MEBANE, N.C.—About a year after a new carbon monoxide detector mandate in New York went into effect, a new survey shows that nearly half of New York families still don’t know about the law, according to Kidde, a manufacturer of fire and CO safety products based here. Amanda’s Law, requiring working STATE Continued from page 1 division. One of them is already on board, Terry Donovan, man- ager of the new division. McBride said he waited to add sprinkler services until he found someone with the right experience: Donovan. He has 30 years’ experience with fire sprin- klers and previously worked for SimplexGrinnell in Memphis. Donovan said adding a sprin- kler division is “somewhat of a new trend” among regional and local fire and security companies. “More and more companies are looking into it,” he said. “They’re looking to offer the customer the whole one-stop shopping of life and safety needs.” He said that at State Systems, the decision was “customer- driven.” The company will concentrate on sprinkler inspections and service and not do installation, at least at first, Donovan said. “That’s going to be our base, the service base, but as we estab- lish that base and have a firm foundation, we will be looking toward growing from there,” he said. McBride believes longtime customers will welcome sprinkler services as an add-on to services they already receive. SSN Potter Continued from page 24 information] from the control panel via email and that is by con- necting directly from our control panel into a systems network,” Kosciuk explained. He said the panels also use Potter’s patented Quadrasync technology to sync different man- ufacturers’ audiovisual devices all together off the same panel. He said that feature is impor- tant to the retrofit market because installers can save an end user money by syncing existing audio- visual devices from different manufacturers instead of replac- ing them. Potter last year became partners with Nohmi, a Japanese manufac- turer, which brought with it a new, full line of fire alarm prod- ucts, and it refinanced its debt in September with a new lender, First Tennessee Bank. SSN Does Your Inspection Reporting System Deliver the Critical Data Your Customers Need? BuildingReports’ web-based inspection reporting system and unique bar code technology can deliver device specifi c reports for your customers with more detail than any other system! CO detectors in one- and two-family homes, is named after a 16-year-old who died of CO poisoning in 2009 sleeping at a friend’s house. But a survey conducted earlier this year on behalf of Kidde, which is part of UTC Fire & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corporation, found that 57 percent of those who didn’t buy an alarm after the law took effect said they either ran out of time or didn’t believe they needed one, according to Kidde. Andy Lowitt, VP of Lowitt Alarms in Hicksville, N.Y., which installs and monitors CO detectors, said he believes there should be “a stronger effort from New York State to publicize [the law]. We try to do our best but there’s still a big knowledge gap.” He said the company has sent out letters and email blasts to customers and has information about the law on its Facebook page. He said the passage of the law “has had some positive impact on new sales of carbon monoxide detectors, but I would not say an overwhelm- ing response.” David George, director of commu- nications for Illinois-based System Sensor, a manufacturer of fire detec- tion and notification devices, includ- ing CO detectors, said that whenever a CO law is passed, there’s typically an increase in demand for monitored CO detectors. “There’s just a general awareness of it and dealers use it as a calling card,” he explained. SSN *0 1 1 0 2 1 0 0* Trusted reporting data your customers need: • 3rd Party Verifi cation • Inventory & Warranty Report • Time/Date Inspected • Automated Product Recall Alerts • Service Authorizations • Discrepancy Reports • 24/7 Access • NFPA Embedded Codes & Standards 770.495.1993 sales@buildingreports.com www.BuildingReports.com inspection reporting solution The world’s most trusted