"Inspector Sands" is a code phrase used by

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

authorities in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, including

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

and

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, to alert staff to a fire alarm without needing to evacuate the station. The exact wording depends on the station and the nature of the incident. For example: "Would Inspector Sands, please report to the operations room immediately." or "Would Inspector Sands, please report to Platform 2."

The automated public address announcement can be generated automatically by the station's fire warning system, or can be triggered from the station control. The message audio file is usually stored as the primary standard emergency announcement on the station PA/VA system. Fire alarms in small buildings automatically activate all fire sounders to instruct occupants to evacuate the building whereas larger public buildings such as railway stations require a staged evacuation procedure to avoid

false alarms A false alarm, also called a nuisance alarm, is the deceptive or erroneous report of an emergency, causing unnecessary panic and/or bringing resources (such as emergency services) to a place where they are not needed. False alarms may occur with ...

. The message may indicate that a single

fire alarm A fire alarm system warns people when smoke, fire, carbon monoxide or other fire-related or general notification emergency, emergencies are detected. These alarms may be activated automatically from smoke detectors and heat detectors or may also ...

call point in a public area has been activated and which needs to be corroborated by a station staff before a decision is made whether to evacuate the whole station. If an automatic fire detector in a non-public area is operated, or more than one device or zone reports a fire, the system will start the evacuation procedure and the

fire brigade A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

is automatically called. The announcement can be triggered by the station controller to alert station staff of other incidents which need urgent attention. The automated nature of the announcement and its high priority means that it has occasionally been known to cut into manual (lower priority) announcements being made by station staff. On some railway stations the announcement is also triggered during the routine testing of alarm systems.

History

The code phrase "Mr. Sands" was used in theatres, where sand buckets were used to put out fires, as a code for fire. The word "fire" backstage would cause alarm to either performers or the audience.

References

{{Reflist Disasters on the London Underground London Underground Network Rail

History

See also

References