Tips to Prep Your Home When You’re Going on Vacation

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

family at airportSummer is just around the corner and if you’re like most people, you’re looking forward to spending some quality time with your family on vacation.

Whether you’re packing up the kids and heading to that quaint cottage you rent every year on Cape Cod, heading north to the lakes region of New Hampshire or Maine, or jetting off to some exotic locale, don’t forget to take some precautions to protect your home while you’re away.

Here are some tips to help keep your home safe while you and your loved ones are enjoying some well-deserved time away. Read more →

5 Safety Precautions Your Condo Association Should Have

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

A condo can be a great alternative to a single-family home. They are generally more affordable and less maintenance. However, living near so many people can pose safety risks. It is important to talk with your condo association about their emergency preparedness.

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Best Practices for Commercial Access Control Systems

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Fingerprint Access Control SystemPart of your job as a business owner or facilities manager is to make certain that the occupants of your building – as well as the building itself – are safe and secure.

A key part of a commercial building’s physical security system is the access control system.

Thanks to today’s advanced technologies access control systems not only control physical access, they also provide security badge options and track specific employee, visitor and equipment movements in and out of your building as well as restricted areas within your facility. Read more →

What to Teach Your Children about Home Security

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Little baby boy pushes a buttons on the alarm keypadYour most important job as a parent is protecting your children. The fact is that as they get older you’re not always going to be with them to keep them out of harm’s way.

However, you can help make sure they’re safe when they’re home alone by talking to them about home security and what to do in an emergency.

Here are some important home security tips to teach your children:

  • Teach them how to operate your home security system – You should begin by teaching your children the basics, such as how to arm and disarm the system as well as how to tell the difference between the different alerts. You and your children should work together to determine an arm/disarm code for your alarm system that they’ll remember. It’s very important to let them know they shouldn’t share the code with anyone else.

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Tips to Keep Your Restaurant Safe and Secure

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

iStock-155445744As a restaurant owner, you know that your business is vulnerable to any number of security issues, including armed robbery, burglary and employee theft.

That’s why it’s important to have adequate restaurant security in place to protect your employees, your customers and yourself.

Protecting your assets and inventory is no easy task, so we’ve compiled some tips to help you do just that:

  • Install a business security system to electronically protect your assets and your employees. Today’s technology even lets you monitor and control what’s going on in your restaurant when you’re not there. You can remotely manage the alarm systems and security cameras as well as door and window sensors via any computer, smartphone, or other mobile device with Internet access.

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September Is College Campus Fire Safety Month

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

As college students move in to new apartments this week, now is a good time for them to check and make sure they have working fire alarms.

We all were tragically reminded of the importance of this early Wednesday morning, when a four-alarm fire destroyed an apartment building on Myrick Street in Allston, Mass., a community popular with college students. After it took about five-and-a-half hours to put the blaze out 11 college students and young professionals who lived in the building were displaced .

Fire investigators said it could have been much worse because the two-and-a-half story house had inadequate smoke detectors and sprinkler protection, according to Boston Fire Commissioner Joe Finn. Damage to the building was estimated at around $1 million.

“We’re very fortunate last night that we didn’t have a loss of life,” Finn told WBZ NewsRadio 1030. “I think the fact that the tenants who were on that third floor weren’t home is probably the reason why, because I think if they were home, they never would have made it out.”

Fire inspectors think the fire started in a rear bathroom, but they were still trying determine the cause. The fire commissioner said investigators found several issues with the house.

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School Vacation Safety Tips This Spring

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Spring vacation is just around the corner. Time for relaxation and fun. It’s a time of year many families take a break from their every day lives and travel to somewhere really warm and fun.

For other families, though, spring break means kids having to stay home alone or with a caretaker while mom and dad are at their jobs.

Whether you’re jetting off to Walt Disney World with your children or sitting in your office cubicle while they’re amusing themselves at home, it’s important to take some precautions to ensure their safety.

Here are some tips to help your kids have fun and stay safe during school vacation no matter where they are. Read more →

Systems Technicians: The Best Kept Career Opportunity Secret

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

technologyThere is an interesting paradox playing out in the security systems technician field both locally and across the country. At a time when the industry is growing and new technologies are driving the market, fewer people are seeking jobs in the field.

In Massachusetts, for example, over the past 15 years the number of people holding Systems Technicians licenses (low voltage C & D) has decreased by 21%. The big question is why?

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American Alarm Video System Helps Police Crack Down on Texting While Driving

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

It was a clear July morning and two Rutland, Massachusetts police officers were walking across Main Street in a marked crosswalk. The approaching Ford Explorer had plenty of time to stop for the pedestrians. Instead, it was almost a tragedy.

The alert police officers jumped away from the oncoming vehicle just in time, or else they would have been run down. The distracted driver was texting.


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Police Body Cameras Proposed in Boston

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Police_lights_webPolice in Boston may soon be sporting new technology. A proposal from the citizen group, Boston Police Camera Action Team, would require all on-duty officers to wear a video camera on their shirt collars. This proposal comes after major cities across the country have participated in pilot programs to test the effectiveness of body cameras. These programs have emerged in response to public outcry over police-involved shootings nationwide.

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