Press Release

IQ BOARD INSTITUTES AUDIT PROCEDURES FOR ENFORCEMENT OF PROGRAM MANDATES

FOR RELEASE September 2003

Contact: Norma Beaubien

On August 28, 2003 the IQ Board of Directors approved a new audit procedure to help ensure compliance with the mandates of the IQ Certification program. The audit procedure will require, at a minimum, that any company requesting renewal of their IQ certification provide an auditor with a list of their five most recent installations. An auditor will personally contact each of those customers and ask a series of questions designed to ensure that all guidelines of the IQ program have been followed. Procedures are being developed should a renewing company not successfully pass an audit, and sanctions can be imposed up to and including removal of IQ certification.

Chairwoman, Lisa Prosser said, "The IQ Board of Directors is very committed to all possible due diligence procedures so the IQ Certification program is known to be a program of the highest integrity. One of our members recently stated that they take their position of an IQ Certified company very seriously, just like they take their role in life-safety very seriously. I'm sure it's obvious to the law enforcement community that a company can NOT take their role in life safety seriously if that same company contributes to the false dispatch problem. The IQ Certification program is a serious program for the electronic security and life safety industry; we just need more companies to get serious."

The newly approved audit procedure is a first step in the evolving process of enforcement of the IQ program policies and procedures. The IQ Board is excited that it is moving forward and enhancing the IQ program. IQ certification is granted to companies that strictly adhere to the IQ Certification policies and guidelines. Each of the policies and guidelines have been crafted to ensure that a company is taking all known steps to install quality and false alarm resistant alarm systems. To learn more about the IQ program, please visit their web site at www.iqcertification.org.