With digital elevator alarms, Region Kalmar County puts safety first
By moving from analog to digital, Region Kalmar County has gained a simpler, safer and more efficient management of their elevator alarms, while increasing the security of the county’s residents.
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Quick facts
Customer: Region Kalmar County
Background: Analogue elevator alarms are not always reliable and the analog telephone network is being dismantled.
Need: A digital and future-proofed emergency communication for the county’s 100 elevators.
Solution: AddSecures elevator solution with two-way voice transmission and secure, monitored emergency communication. Together with AddView, a web and mobile-based service for administration and alarm management.
Result: A simpler, safer and more efficient management of the elevator alarms, while increasing the security of the county’s residents.
Future-proof alarm monitoring
The alarm signals from most emergency telephones in elevators are still transmitted using analog technology. In the worst case, this means that no one hears the cry for help from a person stuck in an elevator. The consequences of this can be unnecessarily serious—not only for the victim, but also for those responsible for the building security.
Many elevator alarms are now wireless and connected to the mobile network, but most have yet to become fully digitalized. Because their protocols are still analog, the signals can be misinterpreted by the digital mobile networks. Moreover, the analog network is already being dismantled.
A need for digitalized emergency communication
Region Kalmar County is responsible for the operation and service of approximately 200 properties and 100 elevators. They turned to AddSecure because they want to monitor their elevators in a reliable, future-proof and smart way. A combination of factors made it difficult, and in some cases impossible, for operational engineers in Region Kalmar County to monitor the county’s elevators in a reliable way. There was a lack of support for older hardware, and the secure transmission of analog elevator alarm protocols could not be guaranteed over digital mobile networks. Furthermore, monitoring was not integrated into a single system.
“One of our existing systems was obsolete and was no longer supported,” says Jimmy Berg, Operations Engineer at Region Kalmar County.
In order to overcome the problems, Region Kalmar County decided to work with AddSecure to review and digitalize the emergency communication solution for all the county’s elevators.
“This situation is not unique to Region Kalmar County. We come across non-functioning elevator alarms throughout Sweden. Although many elevator alarms are now wireless and connected to the mobile network, few of them are truly digital,” says Peter Jensen-Torp, Technical Manager for AddSecure’s elevator alarm solutions.
The advantage of AddSecure's solution is that we can gather our entire alarm portfolio in one service, not just the elevator alarms. Availability is another factor. We used to rely on a specific computer to handle our alarms, but we can access AddView from any computer or mobile device.
Jimmy Berg, Operations Engineer at Region Kalmar County
From analog to digital, quick and easy
The conversion from analog to digital was accomplished in less than three months. The process is the same regardless of the customer. First, AddSecure conducted a survey of the county’s elevators and their status. After the initial installation, a test was carried out to verify that the alarm center could process the digital alarm. Next, the county’s elevator technicians received an introduction to the digital solution—and then it was time for the roll-out. The digital elevator alarms were subsequently installed by the county’s own technicians.
Comprehensive alarm management on a single platform
When Region Kalmar County, which already used AddSecure’s solutions for burglar alarms and fire alarms, received the proposal to integrate all its alarms into a single platform, they were eager to investigate the possibility.
Jimmy Berg, Operations Engineer at Region Kalmar County, says: “The advantage of AddSecure’s solution is that we can gather our entire alarm portfolio into one service—not just the elevator alarms. Accessibility is another factor. We used to rely on a specific computer to manage our alarms, but AddView allows us to access them from any computer or mobile device.”
AddView is a web-based service that gives the user a comprehensive overview and full control over all their alarm systems. The tool enables organizations that monitor a large portfolio of alarms to drastically improve their monitoring and response. Any errors and deviations are reported directly to the organization’s personnel, so that they can be corrected before a critical situation occurs.
Easier, safer and more efficient alarm management
AddView and the digital solution for emergency communication in all elevators were rapidly implemented throughout the Kalmar region. The result for Jimmy Berg and his organization is a much simpler, safer and more efficient way to manage elevator alarms.
“AddView makes it possible to quickly generate a status overview of the elevators, and it’s much easier for us to administer the emergency calls,” concludes Jimmy Berg.
Through digitalization, the region’s elevator alarms are now being transmitted with full reliability once again, while the security of the county’s residents has increased. With digitalization, AddSecure quickly and easily helps property owners convert all types of elevators. The process usually takes no more than 2-3 months to convert up to 100 elevators.