Tracking Fire Assets

When it comes to fire assets and ultimately the safety of people, there is no room for shortcuts.

Why is it so essential to track fire assets?

When the team at itemit heard about the Grenfell Tower tragedy, we were devastated for the victims and their families. As we read more about the tragedy, we were desperately sad to learn of how many failings there were and how many missed opportunities there had been that could have improved the safety of the tower and perhaps saved some of the lives that were lost.

Our bread and butter at itemit is keeping track of and monitoring the condition and status of different types of assets. This includes all sorts of assets from bakers’ bread baskets, to drills and excavators relied upon by construction companies, right the way through to tracking the whereabouts of navigational systems on a fleet of 33 ships. So when we researched more into the events that led to the Grenfell Fire, we were shocked to see that so many fire and compliance assets had not been correctly tracked, monitored and maintained.

What’s the solution to tracking fire safety and compliance assets?

As a result, we sought to add additional functionality to our asset tracking software, itemit, that would allow anyone with interest in an asset (particularly fire and compliance assets) to find out more about that asset and report any issues about it. We aimed to create one system that would allow all asset stakeholders to find the information they need. Stakeholders include asset and building owners, buildings and facilities managers, building users, visitors to a building and of course tenants of residential properties.

And so, that’s exactly what we did.

Now, anyone that needs a controlled way of keeping track of fire safety and compliance assets can use itemit. The solution provides the following:

• An accurate register of all fire safety and compliance assets
• The location of each critical asset
• An easy way to share this data with facilities managers, building owners and contractors
• Publicly accessible information that tenants, building users and visitors can see
• A safe and convenient place to store any certifications, user manuals and safety guidance documents
• A fast and reliable way for anyone to report issues against individual assets that are received by a central system
• AI bot issue prioritisation – a unique machine learning model that has been trained on five years worth of facilities management data to aid you in the prioritisation of reported issues

Which fire safety and compliance assets are tracked using itemit?

• Fire detection and warning system
• Fire extinguishers
• Fire blankets
• Fire doors
• Emergency Lighting
• Fire safety signage

Tracking fire doors: Extra considerations

When it comes to fire doors in particular, there are some additional considerations to ensure that not just the door, but all of its components are also fully compliant. Without the right asset and component tracking software, this can become very challenging. Find out more here about using asset tracking software to track and monitor fire doors.

A detailed look at using asset tracking software to monitor fire assets

It’s much easier for us to show you how this works in itemit, rather than tell you about it. Here, we’ve set up a demo account to show you the different types of assets you can track in itemit, how to set up the system for the best results and how to get out of itemit what you need.

These are what we call asset profiles. Every asset has its own digital profile where you can safely store information and access data whenever needed.

As you can see, you can add any information you need, such as installation dates, replacement dates and manufacturer details.

If you wish to do so, and we do strongly recommend this for fire safety and compliance assets, you then allocate these assets to a location. The location tree is built by you and will, therefore, be customised to precisely what you need. This gives you a detailed and transparent list of every critical asset, including where each asset is located and also the assets condition and any inspection/maintenance dates.

Every time an asset is scanned using itemit, the system automatically records the GPS location of the asset too and marks that it has been scanned and therefore ‘seen’ in the system. itemit also records which member of staff or contractor scanned the asset. All of this helps to give you full trust that staff and contractors are where they said they were and that every asset is where it should be and in good working order.

Where is itemit already being used to track fire assets?

itemit was launched in a housing association, settle, formerly North Hertfordshire Homes, in 2019. Fire safety and compliance assets within residential schemes are tagged, tracked and monitored using the asset tracking software. This includes fire extinguishers, emergency lighting and fire doors. 

At the University of Cambridge, itemit has also been deployed across ten buildings to monitor and track critical plant assets and safety and compliance assets.

Summary: How best to ensure accountability, compliance and competency when it comes to tracking fire assets

As we have discussed, when it comes to fire safety and compliance assets within buildings used by many people, it’s crucial that anyone with an interest in the asset can find out further information. itemit gives you this ability – add users to the system so they can help you monitor the assets and allow public users to scan asset tags by enabling what we call ‘Public Profiles‘.

When you use itemit’s asset tracking software, you can ensure compliance as a result of your asset register and all the details it contains. Now, it’s straightforward to see which assets require replacement or inspection in the next week or month. 

Give us a call today to discuss your requirements, and we will help you get instantly set up.

Instant access. No credit card details required.

or, download the itemit app to get started