Runner service is a service required for Proprietary Supervising Station and Central Supervising Station Fire Alarm Systems where an individual is dispatched to the protected premises when signals are received at the supervising station.
The runner is dispatched by the supervising station to the protected premises when alarm, trouble, supervisory, and guard tour supervisory signals are received. The amount of time the runner has to arrive at the premises depends on the type of signal received. Alarm and supervisory signals required the runner to arrive within 2 hours, and trouble signals require arrival within 4 hours. A guard tour supervisory (when the guard fails to check in on a tour station) requires an arrival within 30 minutes.
Once the runner arrives at the premises, the purpose is the restore, reset, or silence the signal sent to the supervising station. Runners are required to have the knowledge to reset the system or condition where appropriate but are typically not required to remedy the cause of any signals. For example, the runner would typically silence a fire alarm and reset a triggered device but would not perform service or repair of the device that caused the alarm.
The runner may be dispatched from the supervising station facility or dispatched from another location. The supervising stations are required to have a minimum of two operators on duty at all times. For proprietary station system service, one of the operators is permitted to be a runner.
More commonly, the runner is not dispatched from the supervising station. This arrangement allows the runner to be located closer to the protected premises so that the required response times can be met, while allowing the supervising station facility to be physically located anywhere.