How to Manage Alarms More Effectively

Consolidate management of internal and external alarms 

Alarms come from two primary sources: internal and external. Internal alarms alert operators to system issues, like a camera or recording failure. External alarms are those generated by integrated systems and technologies such as ANPR, video analytics, emergency systems (smoke, fire, chemical) and access control. 

Monitoring alarms from both is essential. Doing so from a single security and surveillance solution simplifies this task and enables them to be managed in ways that wouldn’t be possible with siloed systems. 

Use customisation tools for quick prioritisation 

When multiple alarms are active, how does your surveillance team know which one to tackle first? It’s not always a case of working through an alarm stack chronologically.

You need a solution that alerts you to what really matters. This will allow you to assign different colours, icons and sounds to alarms to make their urgency immediately evident so that users know what to deal with first. This means operators can focus on more urgent alarms without worrying about losing other alarm notifications. 

Decide who really needs to see what 

Not all users need to see all alarms. In fact, if they did, there is a genuine risk of alarm fatigue, which could cause individuals to miss alerts that matter.

Therefore, choosing a system that precisely controls who sees what is essential, such as allowing you to link alarm types with specific job roles, individuals and even specific workstations. Typically, it is best practice only to have one designated workstation that receives all alarms. With remote access functionality, it’s also possible for individuals to view alarms from an offsite location. 

Make use of alarm-triggered automation

Alarm management functionality that allows you to automate specific responses and user guidance will save you precious time, enabling you to deal with more tasks much faster. 

This might take the form of specific alarms triggering a particular camera response. For instance, you can use an access alert to automatically pull up a quad view on-screen and turn nearby PTZ cameras to face the door that has been triggered. If all is OK, the user can review and close the alarm – automatically resetting cameras to their default position. 

Alarms can also be programmed to launch specific forms – for instance, system fault reports – or guidance linked to that alarm type. They can also be used to generate incident management workflows. Unlike fixed guidance, workflows adjust dynamically based on live data so that users can handle evolving situations with more ease and consistency. 

Watch our on-demand webinar for more on how to manage alarms.