Intentionally falsely activating alarms in businesses and schools can lead to serious disciplinary actions, and criminal penalties such as fines and jail time.
Sociologist Robert Bartholomew explains that there are many negative effects of false alarms, such as "fear, havoc, disruptions to emergency services, and wasted resources."
Health and safety can also be affected, as they can cause anxiety and encourage people to race toward an alarm or away from it, which can result in accidents in the panic.
[2] Residential burglar alarms can be caused by improper arming and disarming of the system, power outages and weak batteries, wandering pets, and unsecured doors and windows.
[4] A 2002 study by the U.S. Justice Department estimated the cost of false alarms to be as high as $1.5 billion.
Common untrained users include cleaning crews, repairmen, dog walkers, or babysitters.
Preventing this type of false alarm is usually achieved by changing the main and backup batteries and/or improving reliability of a power source.
In addition, if a door or window is left slightly ajar, wind may be able to blow them open which will also cause a false alarm.
Additionally, steam can trigger an ionization smoke detector that is too sensitive, another potential cause of false alarms.