Guidelines for Installation Quality (IQ)  Certification
Introduction
Adherence to the IQ Certification Code of Ethics and the IQ Certification Guidelines are two of the conditions required for designation as an IQ Certified Company. These requirements are based, in part, on studies and field tests undertaken to determine the most effective means of false alarm control and an appreciation of the burdens created by false alarms. They are subject to revision as further experience and investigation may show is necessary or desirable.
The IQ Certification Board, in performing its functions in accordance with its objectives, does not assume or undertake to discharge any responsibility of the installing or monitoring company or any other party. The opinions and findings of the IQ Certification Board represent its professional judgment given with due consideration to the necessary limitations of practical operation and state of the art at the time the Guidelines are approved. The IQ Certification Board shall not be responsible to anyone for the use or reliance upon these IQ Certification Guidelines by anyone for any reason. Neither the IQ Certification Board nor the National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association shall incur any obligation or liability for damages, including consequential damages, arising out of or in connection with the use, interpretation of or reliance upon these voluntary IQ Certification Guidelines.
IQ- Code of Ethics
All companies participating in the IQ program and their employees, individually and collectively, agree to maintain the highest level of ethical conduct through adherence to the following code.
We will further the public interest by contributing to the development of a better understanding and use of the capacities, abilities and technical skills of the electronic security and life safety industry of the United States of America and neighboring countries, and by accepting our responsibilities to the communities within which we live and work.
We will present our qualifications to prospective clients solely in terms of our ability, experience and reputation and will strive continuously to improve our knowledge, skills and techniques to make available to our clients the benefits of our professional attainments.
We will always be mindful of the trust placed in us by our customers and of our responsibility to render services at the highest level of quality.
We will ensure that all of our employees are carefully oriented so that they will clearly understand company operations, policies and procedures and their relationship with subscriber companies and employees.
We will apply uniform and equitable standards of employment opportunity and assure that the best possible use is made of the abilities, technical and other, of our employees regardless of race, creed, color, sex or age.
We will endeavor to provide opportunity for the professional advancement of those employees who enter the electronic protection industry by assisting them to acquire additional knowledge and competence in their technical skills and to keep up with significant advances in the state of the art.
We will maintain a wholly professional attitude toward those we serve, those who assist us, toward other firms in the industry, toward the members of other professions, and toward the practitioners of allied arts and sciences.
We will respect the reputation and practice of other firms in the electronic security and life safety industry, but we will expose, without hesitation, conduct which may be unethical to the proper IQ Certification Board authority.
We will support all reasonable individual and cooperative efforts among alarm users, the police, fire officials, government and the electronic security and life safety industry to reduce false or unnecessary police and fire dispatches.
Guidelines:
IQ Company Guidelines
Each IQ Certified Company shall form a Quality Control Team whose function is to identify, prevent, and/or eliminate false alarms and unnecessary dispatches. Companies with five or fewer employees should obviously involve everybody in the direct effort. Larger companies will want to include at least one key person from each of the separate departments (management, sales, installation, service and monitoring).
The Quality Control Team shall evaluate all new equipment for potential problems and reevaluate all equipment in use for evidence of problems.
The Quality Control Team shall develop and implement design features and technology aimed at eliminating user mistakes by making the system, to the extent possible, "goof proof." Using pre-alarm buzzers and lights, alarm abort features and/or swinger shunts, can give users every opportunity to avoid mistakes and to promptly correct any they do make before the police or firefighters are dispatched.
The Quality Control Team shall develop procedures to resist the creation of different operating programs for each system and encourage the standardization of system indicators and operation.
The Quality Control Team shall institute a policy that requires affirmation that a system is in test mode before technicians begin work on any system previously known as in service or active.
IQ User Training Guidelines
Each user of an electronic security and life safety system shall be provided with appropriate instruction sheets including simple operating procedures and procedures to be followed in the event of an accidental alarm.
Each user shall be thoroughly instructed in the proper operation of all equipment and procedures to be followed in the event of an accidental alarm by an individual properly trained to train system users.
For every installation, the user shall be informed that the installation was performed following IQ Certification techniques. Each user shall be present when the IQ Certification Checklist is completed, and each line of the checklist shall be explained to the user before it is checked.
Each user shall be instructed, in writing, of procedures to follow to test battery standby power. Exception 1: When the system will test the battery automatically at least every 24 hours. Exception 2: Supervised wireless devices that report low voltage, locally and/or remotely, at least 60 hours prior to device failure or false alarm due to low battery voltage.
All customers shall be given the option of a five (5) day "training period" during which dispatch requests will not be made to law enforcement.
IQ Employee Training Guidelines
Training programs shall provide all employees assigned to train users with the knowledge to teach subscribers how to operate their systems. In addition, all employees shall be provided with at least one hour per month of training, appropriate to their responsibilities including but not limited to;
- false alarm causes and solutions.
- awareness of their responsibilities to the user.
- the requirements of the IQ Certification Program, including the IQ Certification Guidelines.
All qualified installers shall be National Training School (NTS) Certified Alarm Technicians or equivalent. Each IQ Certified System must have at least one qualified installer on-site to inspect the completed installation and complete the IQ Checklist with the customer.
Technical assistance and training, including technical classes at sales meetings as often as necessary, shall be provided to sales personnel to help avoid misapplication.
IQ System Design Guidelines
Each system designer shall be a trained individual who is familiar with the environmental factors that can impair the operation of a device shall determine the proper location and application of each device.
A checklist for sales personnel to help them determine where and where not to use particular pieces of equipment shall be developed and utilized.
All power consuming devices in the alarm system must be point identified.
Each system design shall take into account the presence of pets, and customers shall be informed of the special design techniques involved when pets are a design factor.
IQ Equipment Guidelines
All electronic security and life safety system equipment must be UL listed, FM or IRI approved or equivalent, used only for the purpose intended by the manufacturer and installed per the manufacturer’s specifications.
All panic or medical emergency alarm activation’s shall cause an audible alarm.
All holdup alarms (requiring push button activation) must use simultaneous 2 button activation or a keyed or coded manual reset after activation.
Any electronic security and life safety system that has a touchpad or other device designed to allow the user to activate the alarm (when in the disarm mode) must be configured as follows: panic, fire and medical emergency alarms must be audible; duress or holdup alarms can be silent. Duress codes shall be dramatically different from user codes.
All audio detection devices shall either be volumetric sound detectors with central station operator analysis or detectors that require two different inputs in within one-half second to generate an alarm.
Every residential electronic security and life safety system control panel shall have either: a) push on/off connectors to the battery and a description of the transformer location permanently affixed to the inside of the control panel; or b) an on/off switch that disconnects the battery and transformer from the central processing unit inside the control panel.
Every electronic security and life safety system shall have standby power sufficient to operate the system in non alarm status without being the cause of an alarm activation for a minimum of four hours.
Every electronic security and life safety system shall have a supervised standby power supply that causes a local annunciation when standby power falls below the manufacturer’s recommended specifications.
Any residential system with an audible alarm shall have a sufficient number of sound generating devices to alert or awaken all normal hearing occupants within the alarm site that an alarm has been activated.
All intrusion alarm audible devices shall automatically silence no more than 30 minutes after activation. Exterior intrusion alarm audible devices shall not be activated more than three times from the same device in a single arming period unless the cause of the activation is known and corrected.
IQ Installation Guidelines
Any system installed in accordance with UL or FM specifications shall be considered acceptable under these standards.
All work shall be completed in a neat and orderly manner.
Electronic security and life safety system equipment shall be securely mounted to the building structure. A suitable moisture barrier shall be provided between equipment and exterior masonry walls.
All wiring is to be in accordance with applicable NFPA codes and standards and any state and local regulations.
All detection circuit wiring shall have conductors not smaller than 22 AWG.
Transformers shall be properly affixed to an electrical outlet.
Wiring between a battery or power supply to a notification device shall be of a sufficient gauge to not have a voltage drop of more than 15 %. When operating on backup power, the voltage measured at the notification device shall not be less than the minimum operating voltage specified by the manufacturer.
All splices shall be twisted, "hot" soldered and covered with electrical tape or secured with solderless crimp connectors. Connection wires to screw terminals shall be made using either a crimp or solder type spade lug. Terminal boards with clamping washers will not require a spade lug or soldering. Solderless crimp connectors shall be crimped with a tool recommended by the manufacturer.
Where grounding is required or desirable, the system shall be grounded under NEC (National Electrical Code), UL or manufacturer’s standards.
All connections to the public telephone network will be in accordance with existing tariff regulations and guidelines. All connections to a public switched telephone network shall include, at a minimum, a simple method for the alarm user to disconnect the system from the phone network. This means of disconnection shall detect unauthorized disconnection, automatically restore all phones that are connected through system equipment and prevent alarm signals from being sent via the phone network to the monitoring station
Every electronic security and life safety system using a digital communicator shall have a proper telephone interface device as required by the FCC, accessible to the alarm user and mounted within 24 inches of the control panel.
Procedures to prevent or cancel exit/entry false alarms (Extended delay times, use of delays before dialing, use of cancel codes, etc.) shall be utilized.
Each system is to be tested completely after installation. Test is to include operation of backup power.
At the conclusion of each installation, a qualified installer shall show the customer the IQ Certification Checklist and explain each line of the list before it is checked off. One Checklist must be completed by a supervising installer for each installation.
IQ Monitoring Guidelines
All systems shall be monitored by an IQ Certified Company.
Central station dispatchers shall attempt to verify all burglar alarm signals, as well as all other signals that can be prudently verified, before requesting police dispatch.
Central stations shall have a policy to create a data flow between the central station and the installing/service company/department so that the installing/service company/department can call all customers who have experienced an alarm activation to investigate and prescribe corrective action as needed.
Central stations providing contract monitoring services shall encourage all contractually related installation companies to attain IQ Certified Company status.
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