Smoke alarms in the home – the regulatory requirements are inadequate

In view of the engagement with our community, following our analysis of the Swiss nightclub fire, Terry Jackson and I explore how we believe the current regulatory requirements in some jurisdictions are inadequate to protect the life of the occupiers.

I hope that most people, and certainly those of us in the general insurance industry are aware of the legal requirement to have smoke alarms installed in their homes. Just to recap building regulations essentially require smoke alarms to be installed between elevated fire risk areas (kitchens and laundries), and in bedrooms. The primary purpose is to sense smoke and sound an audible alarm to alert occupants including those who may be asleep. Generally, this results in smoke alarms being fitted in corridors and often above staircases leading to upper storeys.

We believe that while most homes are likely to be compliant with the law, not all are. My oldest friend learned that his were not only when he put his house on the market while another discovered he was non-compliant when he went to rent out a granny flat attached to his home.

Having said this we also believe that smoke alarms are rarely tested and are often past their designated 10-year life span. What both Terry and our risk surveyors at LMI have even found, during property inspections, is that batteries have been removed from battery-only smoke alarms, and at times alarms have been tampered with, to avoid the annoying sound emitted or to ensure the alarm will not work.

I personally saw the battery being reversed in a smoke detector only a week or so ago so that it would stop chirping and the unit did not hang from the ceiling.

We may not be able to prevent all fires, but we can be better prepared, and we can reduce the likelihood and the consequences of fire in our homes if we have properly installed and properly maintained smoke detectors.

To improve safety, we are asking people to please consider installing smoke alarms in any room where people sleep, particularly where doors are likely to be closed. This one is so very important!

We continue to find that most people simply think “it will never happen to me” and many others only plan is to ring the fire and emergency services. Unfortunately, this is too little, too late.

As an aside, I hear “I never thought it would happen to me!’ so often I used it as the title of one of my books.

We urge all homeowners, and others that provide housing/accommodation to reassess the fire risks in their place and identify the potential life harm and property losses that may occur in the event of a fire. General Insurance brokers, loss adjusters and others in the industry can really help with this. We would ask that you ask yourself “are the potential losses acceptable? If not, please consider what you can to prevent fires, where possible and mitigate both the likelihood and the consequences.

We discussed candles in the article on the Swiss nightclub fire. I link a copy here in case you have not seen it.

One way to mitigate the consequences is to install smoke alarms in areas where people may sleep such as bedrooms, guest rooms and even lounge rooms. This becomes, especially important where it is likely that doors will be closed.

During Terry’s time, in the Fire and Emergency Services, he would often attend fires where homes and other property were totally lost. At times, people were injured and loved ones died. This could have been so easily avoided with properly placed and working detectors.

We have chosen two fires to illustrate the unacceptable harm caused by fire. In both these instances a child lost their life – tragedies, as we say, that could have been avoided.

The circumstances leading up to the incidents described below are very common; we believe they play out every day in homes all over the world and we suspect that may resonate with many of you.

Fire one

Young parents living in their suburban home. Their only child, a baby girl, is asleep in her bedroom. The time was approximately 9 PM. Her parents are watching the TV and had closed her bedroom door, so the noise would not disturb her – probably something most parents have done.

A fire started in the child’s room. A smoke alarm was installed in the corridor outside the baby’s bedroom. Behind the closed door the smoke steadily grew. If the door was open the smoke alarm would have operated soon after the fire started. As the door was closed, the smoke alarm could not sense any smoke until after it seeped /passed the closed door and into the corridor. When the alarm sounded the parents responded immediately, but it was tragically too late.  It is impossible to describe the psychological impact on the parents, the first responders and even the loss adjusters attending to the property claim.

Fire two

A teenager is in their room and has closed the door for privacy. After doing homework, connecting with friends’ networks etc. the teenager comes out to clean their teeth and say good night and as soon as they returned to the room they close their door, which was to stay closed until the next morning. This practice of closing the had door started many years before.

The teenager had a habit of lighting scented candles and never had a problem before. On this particular night, when everybody is fast asleep a fire started and once again the smoke alarm was in the corridor outside the closed door. If the door had been open or a smoke alarm was installed in the room the teenager could have evacuated safely, but that was not the case. Once again, a tragic outcome that could have been avoided.

I am sure that in 2026, you share our opinion that the loss of life in circumstances such as these are preventable and totally unacceptable.

The cost of smoke detectors are quite in expensive. Having been to so many fires in my career, including where a television left on standby caught fire after I had gone to bed, I have a smoke detector in every single room, the attic and the crawl space under my home. I also have a fire blanket next to the stove and BBQ and fire extinguishers easily accessed in several areas of the home and garage.

The point of this post is to please heed the warning and pass on the safety message to your families, friends, networks and colleagues.

Install smoke alarms in areas where people may sleep i.e. bedrooms, guest rooms and even lounge rooms, especially where it is likely that the door will be closed.

In the meantime, please ensure doors are left open so that any smoke alarms fitted in corridors can sound the alarm as early as possible. And don’t forget to ensure you can escape to a safe place outside.

Finally, a reminder that day light saving ends at the start of April and this is a good time to change out batteries. This will keep the detector fully operational and stop that annoying chirping which in my past experience always seems to start in the middle of the night.