Monitoring

GUARD PATROLS

What does a patrol do?
A guard patrol can be despatched to check your premises on your behalf in the event of an alarm.
Patrols are despatched if this option is selected in your monitoring agreement.

A patrol can check either only the outside of your premises or both outside and inside.
Internal inspections require that a copy of your keys be held by the patrol company.
Keyholding must be arranged by the client directly with the patrol company.
Ness does not take responsibility for the loss or misuse of keys by the patrol company.

Patrol response charges.
Ness does not own or operate a patrol service. We keep a list in your account of at least two patrol
companies operating in your local area and will despatch one of them to attend.

If a patrol is sent to your premises, Ness Monitoring will pass on to you the patrol fee at the same rate as invoiced by the patrol company.

YOUR GUARD PATROL OPTIONS
You can choose one of these response types for the Control Room to take in the event of alarm.
If you would like to change the response option for your premises please send your request in writing to:
NESS MONITORING,
Locked bag 23,
Seven Hills NSW 1730

OPTION 1 – KEYHOLDERS TO ALL EVENTS
1. Notify the first available key holder to attend.
2. Guard patrol to be arranged only at key holders request
3. Notify Police on request as per details below if no keyholders are available or if a problem has been detected.

OPTION 2 – [spare]

OPTION 3 - IF NO ANSWER (N/A) KEYHOLDERS SEND PATROL
1. Notify the first available key holder to attend.
2. Notify a patrol car on request or if no key holder is available
3. Notify Police on request as per details below if no patrol car or keyholders are available or if a problem has been
detected.

OPTION 4 – PATROL TO ALL ALARMS (EXTERNAL)
1. Notify a key holder ONLY if a problem or genuine break & enter (b&e) has been detected or on events requiring
internal inspection, (ie.: power failure, low battery, sector isolations).
2. Notify a patrol car IMMEDIATELY to externally check the premises. (The patrol will not hold keys to your premises.)
3. Notify Police on request as per details below if no patrol car or keyholders are available or if a problem has been
detected.

OPTION 5 – PATROL TO ALL ALARMS (INTERNAL)
1. Notify a key holder ONLY if a problem or genuine break & enter (b&e) has been detected.
2. Notify a patrol car IMMEDIATELY to internally check the premises. (The patrol must hold keys to your premises.
This will need to be arranged directly between yourself and the patrol company)
3. Notify Police on request as per details below if no patrol car or keyholders are available or if a problem has been
detected.

OPTION 6 – PATROL & KEYHOLDERS TO ALL ALARMS
1. Notify a key holder AFTER a patrol car has been notified.
2. Notify a patrol car IMMEDIATELY to check the premises. (The patrol may or may not hold keys to the premises.)
3. Notify Police on request as per details below if no patrol car or keyholders are available or if a problem has been
detected.

POLICE ATTENDANCE

The Control Room cannot call for police attendance unless a genuine intrusion has been verified by a keyholder or patrol.
This is standard procedure as governed by the police in each state.

Police policy on alarm attendance varies in every state of Australia and their procedures are often updated.
Generally, police in all states will only respond to a verified alarm from a Grade1 control room.

AMBULANCE ATTENDANCE

An ambulance may be called upon request or if an alarm is received from a medical pendant connected to your security system.

An authorisation form must be completed to allow us to despatch an ambulance.
Please contact Ness Admin on 1300 551 991 if you are unsure or if you would like this option added to your service.

You may be billed for attendance by the Ambulance service. This is your responsibility and beyond the control of Ness.

FIRE BRIGADE ATTENDANCE

The Fire Brigade may be called upon request or if an alarm is received from a smoke detector connected to your security system.

An authorisation form must be completed to allow us to despatch fire services.
Please contact Ness Admin on 1300 551 991 if you are unsure or if you would like this option added to your service.
You may be billed for attendance by fire services. This is your responsibility and beyond the control of Ness.

Important Information for monitored customers.

Section 1 - Alarm Definitions
Section 2 - Alarm Response
Section 3 - Voice Codes & Keyholders

Section 1 - ALARM DEFINITIONS

ALARM TYPE	DEFINITION	Message	Description	Priority	ACTION	NOTES
BURGLARY ALARM Residential Accounts	General alarm sent by the security system. Usually a PIR detector, reed switch, glass break, vibration sensor or infra-red beam. In most cases this would be an audible alarm used for the purpose of detecting a break and enter.	ALM	Zone Alarm	2	Phone call made to the premises. Persons onsite must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order. If no keyholders are available, the guard response procedure will be followed as per section 2.	A variation on this alarm is if a “Cancellation code” is received. This is a code sent by the alarm panel when a valid code has been entered. In these cases the premises will not be called as a valid user code has been entered.
BURGLARY ALARM Commercial Accounts	General alarm sent by the security system. Usually a PIR detector, reed switch, Glass break, vibration sensor or Infra-red beam. In most cases this would be an audible alarm used for the purpose of detecting a break and enter.	ALM	Zone Alarm	2	Phone call made to the premises. Persons onsite must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order. If no keyholders are available, the guard response procedure will be followed as per section 2.	Supervised accounts will be phoned regardless of a cancellation being received from the site.
DURESS ALARM Commercial Only	Duress is a silent alarm send by a remote button or by entering a duress code into the keypad (if enabled). This is to be used in the event of a hold up or other dangerous situations.	HUA	Holdup Alarm	1 (Commercial)	Call made directly to Police for attendance (please refer to section 2, Police Patrol Attendance).	A call is NOT made to the premises as this may escalate the danger. For this reason the location of duress button and education of the use of this feature is very important. The premises are called 20 minutes after the event as a follow up.
TAMPER ALARM	Tamper alarms are usually in the form of a switch located on the main alarm unit and the external siren box. These are 24 hour alarms and are there to protect the vital parts of a security system from being tampered with any time of the day.	TAM	Tamper alarm siren/panel	2	Premises called first, person onsite must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order. If no keyholders are available the guard response procedure will be followed as per section 2.
KEYPAD TAMPER ALARM	Keypad tamper alarms are generated when an invalid user code is entered into the alarm system on the third successive incorrect attempt.	TAM	Tamper alarm siren/panel	2	Premises called first, person onsite must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order.
PANIC ALARM Residential Accounts	Panic alarms are usually an audible alarm and activated by a resident pressing a remote panic button or using the keypad panic function (if enabled).	DUR	Duress alarm button / codepad / portable	1 (Residences)	Premises called and person/s onsite will be confirmed by voice code. If no answer is received the control room must act on this as a genuine panic and treat it as a high priority alarm. Police will be called (please refer to section 2, Police patrol attendance).	If you accidentally trip the Panic Alarm it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you immediately phone the control room as you may be billed for the attendance of police or a patrol.
SMOKE ALARM Click here to view the ASIAL guidelines for installation and maintenance for smoke sensors.	An alarm from a smoke alarm connected to the security system. Smoke alarms are set as a 24hour alarm and will sound the sirens as a local warning.	SMK	Smoke detector	1 (commercial & residence)	Premises called first, Person onsite must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order.	If no keyholders are available the fire brigade will be notified if an authorisation has been completed in as per section 2.
LATE TO CLOSE Supervised Commercial only	The security system has not been armed within the daily time frame specified by the client.	LTC	Late to close	5 (commercial supervised only)	Premises called first. Person on site must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order. If no keyholders are available the guard response procedure will be followed as per section 2.	A 30 minute tolerance is allowed. It is essential that you phone the control room if you will be late to close to prevent the alarm being actioned.
LATE TO OPEN Supervised Commercial only	The security system has not been disarmed within the daily time frame specified by the client.	LTO	Late to open	5 (commercial supervised only)	Premises called first. Person on site must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code can not be quoted no further action will be taken unless a LTO is received on the previous day in which case key holders will be called and a patrol sent as per section 2 if no key holders are contactable.	A 30 minute tolerance is allowed. Late to open alarms are not actioned on weekends unless requested.
EARLY TO OPEN Supervised Commercial only	The security system has been disarmed outside the the daily time frame specified by the client.	EOP	Early open	4	Call made to Premise in “low risk” periods. Person onsite must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order.	A 30 minute tolerance is allowed. It is essential that you phone the control room if you open out of hours to prevent the alarm being actioned.
AUTO-EXCLUDE Automatic zone isolation	A zone has been automatically isolated from the system. This occurs when a zone is left unsealed as the exit time expires, in most cases indicating a door or window has been left open.	BYP	Zone Isolated / Bypassed	3	Premises called first, Person onsite must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order. If no keyholders are available the guard response procedure will be followed as per section 2.	Most Ness panels will give a two second siren burst to indicate that a zone/s has been Auto-excluded.
ZONE BYPASS Manual zone isolation Residential and non supervised commercial	A zone has been manually isolated from the system through programming via the keypad. This function is very helpful in an instance where a particular detector has been false alarming; it can be excluded until a technician is available to service the system. Please check your manual for an explanation on how to use this feature.	BYP	Zone Isolated / Bypassed	3	No calls made as zone has been manually bypassed.	It is recommended to have your panel set to only allow bypasses via a code if there is a possibility unauthorised people have access to the keypad. This will need to be done by your installer or by calling Ness tech support on 1300 551 991.
ZONE BYPASS Manual zone isolation Supervised commercial	A zone has been manually isolated from the system through programming via the keypad. This function is very helpful in an instance where a particular detector has been false alarming; it can be excluded until a technician is available to service the system. Please check your manual for an explanation on how to use this feature.	BYP	Zone Isolated / Bypassed	3	Premises called first, Person onsite must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order.	It is essential that you phone the control room if the premise is expecting to be isolating or bypassing a zone. A temporary note can be placed on the account after being verified by a voice code for any given time. This will ensure no patrol will be send in the event of no keyholders being contactable.
MAINS FAIL	Power to the panel has been shut down. By default Ness security systems have a one-hour delay to eliminate any short mains fails reporting back to the control room.	LPT	Mains power-failure	2	No action taken by the control room for MAINS FAIL only.
LOW BATTERY	A low battery has been reported by the security system. This may be from the main panel back-up battery or radio devices such as wireless detectors and wireless smoke alarms that are programmed into the system.	LBT	Low battery alarm	2	Premises called first if a recent power failure has also been received at the control room, Person onsite must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order. If no keyholders are available the guard response procedure will be followed as per section 2. If previous mains fail has been received a call will be made to the premises and a report sent to the installer if the event occurs between the hours of 6am and 11pm. If the report is received outside of these hours a report is sent to the installer only.	Ness main panel batteries are automatically tested every hour by the panel and on every arming of the panel.
NO TEST REPORT	It is a requirement that the security system sends a test report back to the control room at a preset frequency.	NOT	Not test report	Auto log and emails direct to Dealers	Report sent to your installer to investigate the reason for the missed test call.	By default NESS systems send a weekly report. We encourage our clients to send test reports more often as this raises the security level of the system. We do not charge any extra for this service but you will be billed a local call cost by your phone provider for each call the panel makes back to the control room.
SUPERVISORY FAIL	A radio device has failed to report back a supervision signal to the security system. Supervisory signals are transmitted by radio devices to ensure the integrity of the device on a regular basis.	ALM	Supervisory Signal Fail	2	By default the premise is called first, Person onsite must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order. If no keyholders are available the guard response procedure will be followed as per section 2.
PSTN FAIL	PSTN fail signals are sent when a GSM/GPRS device is connected to the alarm system and the phone line to the alarm fails.	LTF	Line fail	2	Premises called first, Person onsite must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order.If no keyholders are available the guard response procedure will be followed as per section 2.
GSM / GPRS FAIL	GSM/GPRS fail signals are sent via the PSTN phone line when a GSM/GPRS device is connected to the alarm system and has failed to communicate.	ALM	PSTN Line Fail	2	Premises called first, Person onsite must quote a valid voice code. If no answer is received or a voice code cannot be quoted the control room will call the keyholders in order. If no keyholders are available the guard response procedure will be followed as per section 2.

Section 2 - ALARM RESPONSE

Section 3 - VOICE CODES AND KEYHOLDERS

HINT: Choose a Voice Code that's easy to remember but not too obvious.

VOICE CODES
A Voice Code is your secret password which will identify you when the Control Room calls you in the event of an alarm.

If you forget your Voice Code, the Control Room may verify your identity by asking you to quote the premises telephone number.

KEYHOLDERS
Keyholders are people you have nominated to be contacted in the event of an alarm. It's vital that your Keyholder list be kept
updated to ensure the effectiveness of your monitoring service.

We require a minimum of three Keyholders to be nominated.

Keyholders must be instructed on the appropriate action to take in the event of an alarm.