Smoke detectors mandatory on July 1, 2022

March 2020

Even if it might seem far away, it is important to pay attention to this matter now. The Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs complies with the advice of the Dutch fire department to make smoke detectors compulsory for all homes. For new-build homes, the house must already be delivered with at least 1 smoke detector on each floor.

TNO research in recent years shows that smoke detectors in all homes reduces the risk of fatal casualties. TNO stands for the Netherlands Organisation for applied scientific research is an independent research organization. Between 2008 and 2017, an average of 31 people died anually in a house fire in the Netherlands. The government wants to reduce this figure, so that smoke detectors are now mandatory.  Below is an overview of the figures for residential fires in 2018:

 

To clarify the figures, the total number of reports of residential fires in 2018 is just over 80,000. This means that about 220 reports of a house fire were made per day. Of the 80,000 reports, 30 were fatal in 2018. A fatal domestic fire is a fire in which fatalities as a result of the fire are regrettable, which took place in a buidling with residential function or in another "residential-related" object and which was not caused intentionally. The number of 30 fatal domestic fires needs to be further reduced, which is why smoke detectors are required on every floor.

In order to give building owners time to implement to this change, it is planned that the obligations will take effect on the 1st of July 2022. This also prevents possible problemd wiht the delivery and availablitity of smoke detectors at suppliers. It is estimated that between 7.3 to 10.6 million new smoke detectors will be installed. At Elka Pieterman you can choose from the smoke detectors of the brands Angel Eye (formerly First Alert) and FITO.

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