This major upgrade, on which Siemens and the UMCG cooperated very closely from the start, kicked off during the last quarter of 2011. Royal Haskoning DHV acted as advisor for the UMCG and Harwig Installatiegroep from Emmen (NL) installed the 7500 intelligent Sinteso smoke detectors, 35 fire alarm panels and 18 operating consoles.

Another feature that was introduced is the electronic logbook, which provides a comprehensive overview and allows uniform management of the system. At the end of February 2014 the installation as a whole was certified by B.V.I. (Brand Veiligheids Inspecties , a dutch certification body). It was notable that throughout the major upgrade not a single department in the medical centre had to be shut down or relocated, which was all very important for safeguarding UMCG’s continuity.

Erroneous and false fire alarms – 90 percent of all alarms generated at companies and organisations – are one of the biggest problems associated with automatic fire detection and cost the fire department and the companies involved huge amounts of money and time. False alarms also cause disruption and panic, premises have to be evacuated and continuity comes under threat. The basic starting point with the Siemens Sinteso smoke detectors is that they only react when it is really necessary, thanks to the patented ASA technology.

Each area in each individual building was also fitted with a smoke detector that was specifically programmed and tailor-made for that area.  The patented ASA technology ensures that the Sinteso smoke detectors are better able to distinguish between different types of smoke particles. The intelligence is also evident in the detector’s ability to correct: if there is no smoke from a real fire, but simply dust from construction work or steam from a shower, the detector will not trigger an alarm.