Alarm receiving centre (BS EN 50518)

BS EN 50518 sets the minimum requirements for centres that receive, monitor and handle alarm messages. In the UK they are called alarm receiving centres or monitoring centres; Spain says central receptora de alarmas and Italy centrale operativa.

There are two categories. Category I covers security alarms such as intruder and hold-up, with higher requirements for construction and integrity. Category II covers the rest: fire, social alarms, lone workers. The edition in force is BS EN 50518:2019+A1:2023, and the amendment changed the definition of a secure location and the clause on monitoring intervals.

For the installer the point is police response. The NPCC requirements say a system gets a URN when it is monitored by a centre certificated to BS EN 50518 Category I or to BS 5979 Category II, with a narrow exemption for in-house monitoring of a company’s own premises. BS 5979, listed as withdrawn, has its own categories: its Category II is not the EN 50518 one. Since 1 April 2021 those centres must pass activations to the police electronically through ECHO, wherever the force is able to accept them. A force that goes live on ECHO gives monitoring centres three months to connect. Those that miss the deadline may no longer be considered police compliant. Where a force is not ECHO connected, the centre uses the ex-directory lines the force nominates.

The centre also holds the keyholder records. The police do not.

Spain regulates the premises directly in law, with BR4 bullet-resistant glazing, two operators per shift and an alarm that goes to another centre if the operators fail to respond for more than ten minutes. The standard itself is paid for, and we have not read what it says about verification and handling times.