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Information about False Alarms

For a more generic meaning, see False positive.


A false alarm, also called a nuisance alarm, is the phony report of an emergency, causing unnecessary panic and/or bringing resources (such as fire engines) to a place where they are not needed. Over time, repeated false alarms in a certain area may cause occupants to start to ignore all alarms, knowing that each time it will likely be a fake. The concept of this can be traced at least as far back as Aesop's story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, where many episodes of a boy falsely yelling "wolf" caused the townspeople to ignore his cries when a real wolf came. In addition, false alarms have the potential of diverting emergency responders away from legitimate emergencies, which could ultimately lead to loss of life.

In industrial alarm management, a false alarm could refer either to an alarm with little information content that can usually safely be eliminated, or one that could be valid but is triggered by a faulty instrument. Both types are problematic because of the "cry wolf" effect described above.

The term "false alarm" is actually a misnomer, and is regularly replaced by the term "nuisance alarm." When a sensor operates, it is hardly false, and it is usually a true indication of the present state of the sensor. A more appropriate term is nuisance, indicating that the alarm activation is inconvenient, annoying, or vexatious. A prime example of this difference is burglar alarms being set off by spiders. (A spider crawling on a web in front of the motion detector appears very large to the motion detector.) [1]

One tragic example of the consequences of continued false alarms was at Boland Hall at Seton Hall University on January 19, 2000. Months of false alarms caused many students to start ignoring the fire alarms. However, when an actual fire broke out, three students who ignored the alarms died, and many others suffered injuries.

Likewise, after too many audible car alarms are found false, most people no longer pay attention to see whether someone is stealing a vehicle, so even certain experienced thieves may confess that these alarms would not deter them from stealing vehicles.

Other uses

In (signal) detection theory, a false alarm occurs where a non-target event exceeds the detection criterion and is identified as a target (see Constant false alarm rate).

False alarms could also refer to situations where one becomes startled about something that is later determined to be untrue.

See also

References

1. ^ [1]
Type I errors (or α error, or false positive) and type II errors (β error, or a false negative) are two terms used to describe statistical errors.

Statistical error vs.


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An alarm (French: À l'arme - "To the arms") gives an audible or visual warning of a problem or condition. :)

Alarms include:
  • burglar alarms, designed to warn of intrusions; this is often a silent alarm: the police or guards are warned without indication to

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Criminal law
Part of the common law series
Elements of crimes
Actus reus  · Causation  · Concurrence
Mens rea  · Intention (general)
Intention in English law  · Recklessness
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Aesop (also spelled Æsop, from the Greek Αἴσωπος—Aisōpos), known only for the genre of fables ascribed to him, was by tradition a slave (
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The Boy Who Cried Wolf, also known as The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf, is a fable attributed to Aesop (210 in Perry's numbering system).[1] The protagonist of the fable is a bored shepherd boy who entertained himself by calling out "wolf".
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Industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent, industrious"), is the segment of economy concerned with production of goods. Industry began in its present form during the 1800s, aided by technological advances, and it has continued to develop to this day.
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Alarm management is the application of human factors (or ergonomics as the field is referred to outside the U.S.) along with instrumentation engineering and systems thinking to manage the design of an alarm system to increase its usability.
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Information is the result of processing, gathering, manipulating and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the receiver. In other words, it is the context in which data is taken.
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Burglar (or intrusion), fire and safety alarms are found in electronic form today. Sensors are connected to a control unit via either a low-voltage hardwire or narrowband RF signal, which is used to interact with a response device.
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The Boland Hall Fire was a fatal fire in Boland Hall, a freshman dormitory on the Seton Hall University campus in South Orange, New Jersey on January 19, 2000. Three students died and many more were injured. It was one of the deadliest college fires in recent US history.
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Seton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university located 14 miles from Manhattan in historic South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States.
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January 19 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

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car alarm is an electronic device installed in a vehicle in an attempt to discourage theft. Car alarms work by emitting high-volume sound (usually a siren, klaxon, pre-recorded verbal warning, the vehicle's own horn, or a combination thereof) when triggered or when circuit is
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Detection theory, or signal detection theory, is a means to quantify the ability to discern between signal and noise. Much of the early work in detection theory was done by radar researchers. [1] Detection theory was used in 1966 by John A. Swets and David M.
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Constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detection can refer to a common form of adaptive algorithm used in radar systems to detect target returns against a background of noise, clutter and interference. Other CFAR detection algorithms are not adaptive.
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bomb threat is generally defined as a verbal threat to detonate an explosive or incendiary device to cause property damage or injuries, whether or not such a device actually exists.
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Culture of fear is a term that refers to a perceived prevalence of fear and anxiety in public discourse and relationships, and how this may affect
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For other uses, see Evacuation.


Emergency evacuation is the movement of persons from a dangerous place due to the threat or occurrence of a disastrous event.
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Type I errors (or α error, or false positive) and type II errors (β error, or a false negative) are two terms used to describe statistical errors.

Statistical error vs.


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Criminal law
Part of the common law series
Elements of crimes
Actus reus  · Causation  · Concurrence
Mens rea  · Intention (general)
Intention in English law  · Recklessness
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A fire alarm system is an active fire protection system that detects fire or the effects of fire, and as a result provides one or more of the following: notifies the occupants, notifies persons in the surrounding area, summons the fire service, and controls all the fire alarm
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