New IoT-enabled smoke alarms could save lives, and money

Andrew Cox, Sensor Global co-founder and chief executive officer, explained: “Our team has been motivated by the shocking Fire and Rescue NSW statistic that 56 per cent of fire fatalities occurred in homes that had a non-working smoke alarm.”

Sensor Global’s IoT smoke alarms eliminate the need for regular smoke alarm inspections, removing all the cost, coordination and access issues such procedures can induce.

“Landlords are obligated to have smoke alarms installed in all states,” he stated. “But physically inspecting them regularly has a huge impact in terms of time, coordination and cost.

“If the smoke alarm fails between inspections, tenants are at risk. No one wants that,” he stressed.

Mr Cox detailed the Sensor ecosystem has been purpose-built to allow property managers to test smoke alarms automatically or manually from anywhere in the world and receive real-time alerts on any smoke alarm issues in one of their properties under management. On top of this, the IoT smoke alarms send alerts to property managers if they are tampered with by tenants, or become dirtied by dust or other obstructions.

He believes the company’s product “offers a system that assures compliance 24/7 with a simplified and automated workflow, that replaces current and inefficient systems that require manual inspections.”

While the company remains presently focused on smoke alarms, Mr Cox hinted at the production of future products, including water leak detectors, carbon monoxide and gas alarms.

“We have other IoT devices in development because it just doesn’t make sense to send a man in a van constantly with all the work involved for all parties,” he concluded.