Save over 50% on your fire extinguisher and maintenance costs
Having worked with the holiday industry for the past 20 years we understand the issues that you have to deal with when it comes to your fire safety provision. Safelincs can provide you with a money-saving option that is also kinder to the environment with the P50 service-free fire extinguisher, saving you over 50% of your current fire extinguisher and maintenance costs. With the P50 service-free extinguishers you save money for several reasons: No annual service costs: P50 do not need an annual service by a trained extinguisher technician, they can simply be inspected by one of your team. Safelincs provide full training. Half the refills: The P50 extinguishers only need refilling every ten years rather than the 5 years of traditional extinguishers Longer lasting: P50 have a 10 year warranty and a 20 year lifespan Robust and 100% corrosion free. P50 are made from robust, non-corrosive materials and can be used in the harshest of environments without corroding Need fewer extinguishers. P50 foam extinguishers are safe on electrical equipment and replace traditional water/CO2 combination stands, halving the number of extinguishers required. You don’t need to replace all your extinguishers at the same time, we can offer you a bespoke plan to phase-in the P50 service-free extinguishers as your old extinguishers need replacing. Manufactured in the UK to the highest standards the P50 service-free extinguishers are CE marked and Kitemarked by the British Standards Institute (BSI) to BS EN3. Safelincs have a range of over 6,000 products and services and we can provide you with all your fire safety needs, not just extinguishers. We are offering FREE fire safety consultations to anyone who visits us at our stand 9143 at the Holiday Park Innovation Show. One of our qualified advisers will visit your site to carry out the consultation at a time to suit you. Your Free fire safety consultation will include an assessment of your current fire safety measures and the advisors will then make recommendations based on your requirements. If you would like to speak to one of our qualified advisors, please call them on 01507 464 167. You can also view our full range of fire safety and health and safety products on www.safelincs.co.uk View this video to see how easy the P50 annual visual inspection is
Returning to your holiday home after winter
With the winter months nearly behind us, it’s time to reopen holiday homes and prepare for the next season. But what can you do to make sure everything is up and running before the sunshine arrives? Here, Nick Cowley, managing director at leading window and door manufacturer Euramax, gives his advice for ensuring your holiday home is ready to enjoy in the warmer months ahead. Inspection and preparation tasks can sometimes put a dampener on returning to a holiday home. With eager anticipation for the summer months, carrying out important maintenance is sometimes put to the bottom of the pile. However, with an effective plan in place, you can soon be ready to enjoy your holiday home for another season. External inspection The exterior of your holiday home is directly exposed to the elements, so be sure to have a good check for any signs of weather damage. Inspect the panels thoroughly for any deformation to prevent draughts and damp seeping inside. Rigorously check the windows and doors, searching for any cracks or splits in the glass or sealant that may have been caused by the cold weather. If your windows and doors are looking old or damaged, it’s a good idea to get them replaced for the year ahead. Updating your windows and doors will improve the appearance of your holiday home, while boosting its energy efficiency. Ensure you choose a reliable, high quality window and door manufacturer such as Euramax, which boasts a wide range of designs made using innovative materials. Spring clean Even if you conducted a thorough clean before the winter, your holiday home will probably require a little work. However, a good freshen up will ensure a great start to the new season. Begin by opening the windows to get some fresh air into your holiday home. Then give all of the surfaces a wipe over to remove any dust that has accumulated over the winter. Giving your holiday home a quick clean will also allow you to spot any problems along the way. If you find small areas of mildew or feel a lot of moisture in the air, consider cleaning with a mould-removing detergent and using a dehumidifier. Water, gas and electricity Now you will be spending time in your holiday home again, the water, gas and electricity need reconnecting. Turn on the water slowly by starting with a low pressure and one tap at a time. As you do this, keep watch for any leaks. If there are no problems, turn up the water pressure and give a final check for leaks. Next, turn on the electricity and make sure all of your appliances and lights are working. You may have left the heating on a low setting during the winter to prevent pipes freezing over and bursting, so you’ll need to remember to turn it off if the weather is warm enough. If you have a gas hob, make sure all of the burners are working — you don’t want to find out they aren’t right after cracking your eggs for a fry up. Make it secure If you’re planning to rent out your holiday home during the summer season, you may want to consider a new security system. Gone are the days of traditional keys and locks, as guest access can be made much easier with a smart locking system. With a digital locking system, guests receive a unique access code via their smartphone, which remains active for the duration of their stay. This technology can also notify property owners when a guest checks in and out of the property, giving greater peace of mind for owners that aren’t based near their holiday home. Once all the checks and maintenance is complete, it’s time for the fun part. Add those finishing touches that make you feel at home, whether that’s decorative cushions, family photos or a stack of your favourite magazines. Now for the final task — pop the kettle on and enjoy your fresh holiday home. www.euramaxuk.com
Frontier Pitts Work With The Caravan Club’s To Increase Security
Over the years Frontier Pitts have installed perimeter security equipment on many of The Caravan Club sites nationally, to ensure the holiday park sites fulfil their security requirements with cost-effective traffic management. Frontier Pitts market-leading FBX Automatic Barrier is ideally suited for controlling constant access to and from Caravan Club sites nationally. The FBX provides an effective solution to traffic congestion, whilst maintaining a visual security deterrent. The FBX Automatic Barrier is manufactured in boom lengths up to six metres, up to five metres for booms with skirts, and each boom can be fitted with warning lights and signs to the customer’s specification. The FBX is able to be raised or lowered through a complete 90-degree arc in as little as 1.8 seconds, depending on boom length, with operation being instantly reversible. The FBX is designed for reliability and durability, featuring sealed-for-life, no-maintenance bearings on the drive shaft; while both barriers and control cabinet are supplied with a 20-year protective alkyd paint finish as standard. The FBX accessories options include a variety of warning signs, lower folding skirts, boom lights, articulated boom, over-ride key switch, magnetic locks for the end-rest, with a choice of ‘pogo stick’ or fixed end-rests. However when The Caravan Club approached Frontier Pitts to install an entrance security system at their new Cadeside caravan storage compound in Taunton, Somerset they voiced concerns that the visual deterrent of the automatic FBX barrier no longer provided enough security. To overcome these concerns, Frontier Pitts were awarded the contract to supply and install a heavy-duty Roadblocker with traffic lights and control cabinet. The ‘Parking height’ model of Roadblocker was installed, with a card reader system to permit entry and exit from the site, and a vehicle induction loop system either side of the roadblocker to ensure the unit raises safely once a vehicle has passed over the ground sensors. Roadblockers and Rising Kerbs are designed to offer an impact-resistant barrier to vehicle access and are well suited to ‘High Security’ sites. Such installations range from car parks through to anti-terrorist protection of defence installations. There are five models of roadblockers available, starting with the ‘SMT’ Surface mounted roadblocker which requires minimal civil works. The ‘Parking’ Roadblocker is manufactured with a lifted height of 353mm, the ‘Security’ Roadblocker with a lifted height of 533mm, and the ‘Special Lift Height’ Roadblocker with a lifted height of 800mm. Frontier Pitts has also recently introduced their fifth model to their range of roadblockers called the ‘ATTB-80’, a model which has been successfully crash tested and has a lifted height of 800mm. The Roadblocker is a rugged underground rising kerb which is hydraulically powered for reliability and strength, and can manufactured in lengths of up to 4000mm. The unit consists of two major parts; the base unit and the rising lid. The base unit is manufactured from heavy gauge steel channel, and contains a number of sealed-for-life ball bearings. The rising lid section is a welded fabrication of heavy gauge steel channel upon which the chequer plate road sections are bolted. The curved perimeter skirt of the Roadblocker is made from a mild steel sheet, and the higher lift versions are fitted with a patented double-lift skirt. A heavy gauge, mild steel angle trimmer frame is installed in the second pour of the concrete foundations, with Spragg tie bars fitted to ensure fixing. The Roadblocker is finished with a scratch resistant, alkyd paint finish. The standard finish is chevron style yellow and black stripes. The electrical and hydraulic control systems are contained within a weatherproof control cabinet which is mounted upon a separate foundation near the Roadblocker. Accessories available for the roadblocker are manual release valves, which in an event of a power fail the manual hand pump can be used to raise and lower the unit. Frontier Pitts also highly recommend installing traffic lights with all roadblocker systems, to ensure the driver of the vehicle is aware when it is safe to proceed. The Terra 180 Swing Arm Barrier is another solution which has been successfully impact tested and offers anti-theft protection with a manually operated barrier system which is ideal for sites with no power supply. The FBX Automatic Barrier and Roadblocker/Rising Kerb, as with all Frontier-Pitts products, is entirely designed and built in Britain to the most stringent international standards. Frontier-Pitts, based in Crawley, Sussex, is the acknowledged leader in perimeter security equipment. Its complete range of products and services is the result of decades of experience. It has offices in Hong Kong, France and China, with over 30 per cent of production exported, and customers in more than 100 countries. Full project management capability includes design, manufacture, civil and electrical services, site surveys, installation, spare parts, refurbishment and fully comprehensive customer services. Constant product R & D is allied to continuing quality improvements in manufacturing and dedicated customer service. This includes producing one of the strongest Roadblockers on the market. The new product is based upon the Terra Blocker design (crash tested in the 1970’s) which has been performing at more than 3000 installation sites worldwide for 30 years. Following months of in-house design and computer simulations, the new ATTB-80 was successfully tested by MIRA independent Crash Laboratories in January 2005. Frontier-Pitts has the full ISO 9001 accreditation. For further information, please look at our website www.frontierpitts.com or Telephone 01293 422800
5 Gas Safety Tips For Park Home Owners
Jacqueline Gallazzi-Ritchie is the director of the gas safety and boiler replacement company All England Gas. Here, she shares what park home owners need to know and do to keep themselves safe with her 5 gas safety tips! Gas Safety Week every September sees organisations from across the UK will be working to raise awareness of the dangers of poorly-maintained gas appliances. A lot of this advice tends to be aimed at those with traditional brick and mortar homes, but it’s an issue that also affects those who live in park homes. So, here, I’m going to share my top tips to keep park home owners safe. 5 Gas Safety Tips For Park Home Owners Only use Gas Safe registered engineers It’s incredibly important that gas appliances are only ever installed or serviced by engineers who are on the official Gas Safe Register — you can check this by asking any boiler engineer who visits your site whether you can see their membership card. This should show a yellow Gas Safe Register triangle (not the orange CORGI registration badge that was replaced back in 2009). This card will also outline what kinds of jobs they’re qualified to work on. So, for example, someone might be able to fix a boiler, but might not have the necessary skills to install a gas fire. Make sure your gas appliances are checked every year Get into the habit of having your boiler serviced once a year. Not only will this give you peace of mind, but it could also help to save money as a Gas Safe engineer will be able to spot any issues or causes for concern. These can then be addressed quickly, before any more damage is caused. It’s also a good idea to have boilers serviced if you have recently bought a park home, as the previous owner mightn’t have put enough effort into maintaining it. It’s always better to be safe than sorry where gas and boilers are concerned! Install carbon monoxide alarms One of the biggest dangers associated with gas boilers is carbon monoxide poisoning, which can occur if a boiler becomes faulty and begins to leak this potentially deadly gas. Installing a carbon monoxide alarm in your home will alert you if it detects the levels rising in the air. Carbon monoxide detectors can often be picked up from a DIY store for as little as £20 — just make sure your chosen one has a British or European Kitemark, so you know it’s reliable. Learn how to spot and treat carbon monoxide poisoning I would also recommend learning how to spot and treat carbon monoxide, just in case. Each year, there are around 60 deaths caused by accidental carbon monoxide poisoning in England and Wales, so you can never be too careful. The main symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning you need to look out for are: • Tension-type headaches • Dizziness • Feeling and being sick • Tiredness and confusion • Stomach pain • Shortness of breath If you suspect that someone is suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, turn off all gas appliances, open windows and doors, evacuate the home, contact a gas engineer, and make sure those affected get check out by a doctor. You can also call the Gas Emergency Helpline on 0800 111 999 if you think there might be a major gas leak in your site. Address any boiler problems immediately Finally, if you spot any boiler issues between services, it’s vital that you contact an engineer as soon as possible. If problems are left to fester, they can become much worse and possibly even dangerous. If left for too long, it’s likely they’ll cost a lot more to repair, or you might even be forced to replace a park home’s boiler completely. It’s much better to address any problems you notice sooner rather than later. So, if a boiler is behaving strangely — perhaps it’s making strange noises or not doing its job properly — deal with it as soon as possible. Check a company’s status on the Gas Safe Register website, or call 0800 408 5500.
The security of remote access
If you’ve ever been locked out of your house or car, you are familiar with that feeling of frustration — always at the most inconvenient of times. It’s even worse when you’re staying in a holiday home and have to hunt for help in unfamiliar territory. Nick Cowley, managing director of PVCu windows and doors expert Euramax, explains how integrating remote access into holiday homes can save the frustration for both holiday makers and those that manage them. The staycation era is truly upon us. The BBC reported that the UK is the second biggest buyer of touring caravans after the US, as more holiday makers are choosing to become tourists in their own country in favour of heading overseas. With one third of British families opting for at-home breaks, the holiday home market is bursting with potential. But with an influx of properties to manage, how can we make things as seamless as possible? Access denied Whether it’s a retirement earner or second income, many owners let out their holiday homes. But while owning an at-home getaway can be an easy way of boosting your bank balance, managing the property isn’t always so simple. Quite often, holiday homeowners don’t live an easy commute from their property, which can present a logistical challenge and cause undue hassle. When giving guests access to the accommodation, many use mini key safes and keypad locks with a combination that can be changed for each guest. However, this solution does not guarantee maximum security as it affords guests to duplicate keys or share codes. If the keys are lost or misplaced, it can be difficult to rectify the situation without having somebody present onsite. Remote access is often associated with industrial processes, allowing plant manufacturing facility managers to monitor production lines across the globe. However, holiday home builders can take inspiration from this method of supervision and create systems that help owners keep track of who is entering and leaving their property, wherever they are in the world. Going remote It’s time to ditch the keys and novelty key rings. Digital locks have become a popular way of transferring access to guests without hassle — and they can do much more than simply opening and closing the door. Guests receive a unique access code via their smartphone, which remains active for the duration of their stay. Authorised users simply point their phone in the direction of the door lock to gain access. Property owners receive greater peace of mind, as the technology allows them to receive notifications when their guests check in, unlock the door and check out of the holiday home. Maintaining the property can also be optimised using smart technology. Homeowners can assign different codes to site managers, handymen or house keeping staff to give easy access in the event of an emergency repair or to track how long they’ve been at the property. Of course, most smart door locks can be overridden by a master key, allowing the owner to maintain full access to their property in the event of an emergency such as a power cut that might disable the electronic smart door lock system. Get smart While smart technology and remote access streamlines holiday home security, there are many other qualities that owners seek when selecting a new door. By partnering with industry experts like Euramax, which specialise in manufacturing windows and doors for holiday home properties, owners can make sure that their doors look great, are energy efficient and able to incorporate smart technology — whether that’s during initial installation or retrofitted in the future. With remote access technology, property owners can manage their caravan or holiday home no matter where they are in the world. Smart locking systems are not only an effective way of monitoring who arrives and leaves the property, but they also make our staycations run a lot more smoothly — with no more unfortunate lock-outs and desperate waits for the bathroom.
