Ramtech North America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, plays a key role in advancing fire safety across the US construction industry.
Joe Beecher, Vice President of Ramtech North America, brings a wealth of experience to the company, having grown up in a family-owned electrical distribution business.
His early exposure to electrical contractors and construction sites has come full circle, as many of those contractors now install Ramtech’s safety systems.
Ramtech’s mission is to increase awareness of fire prevention in an industry where safety devices are often voluntary.
While these devices are mandated in the UK, Ramtech focuses on educating US customers about the benefits of their solutions and how they help protect lives on job sites.
The company’s team, with extensive experience in fire safety and the military, works closely with clients to meet safety standards and ensure worker protection through innovative technology.
In this interview with FSJA Editor Iain Hoey, Joe Beecher shares insights into Ramtech’s operations, major projects, and his views on fire safety in the American construction industry.
The primary device is called a Kinect, which is essentially the panel in fire protection.
Our panel is unique because it’s standalone—no wires needed.
It uses a proprietary SIM card and connects via radio frequency (RF) technology, creating a mesh network with other devices, pairing almost automatically.
In high-rise buildings, we install call points in stairwells.
These call points have flashers and sounders, producing between 95 and 110 decibels—pretty loud.
You place a call point on each floor, then heat and smoke detectors horizontally across the floors, forming a grid within the building.
You’ll find us in buildings 40 stories or higher. The RF technology is incredibly robust.
When there’s an incident, our system detects it by monitoring the number of activated detectors, allowing us to assess the severity.
For example, during a fire in South Park, Charlotte, NC, where two individuals were trapped on a crane, if call points had been installed, they could have pressed a button to alert for immediate help, even though signals were jammed due to too many people making calls.
Evacuation time is crucial.
One general contractor conducted multiple tests and found that with our system, they could evacuate twice as many people in half the time compared to their previous process.
That’s pretty powerful.
One of our key advancements, aside from the devices, is our app called React.
It’s a dynamic and inexpensive tool that creates a floor plan of your entire building, showing the location of each device.
Imagine a fire truck arrives and the job superintendent can hand their phone to the firefighter, showing exactly where the incident is in the building and its potential severity.
This not only protects workers and property but also helps firefighters when they arrive, saving valuable time.
We recently attended the National Fire Marshals Association meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, with 254 Fire Marshals from across the country.
Every time we present our solutions to fire professionals or customers, they understand that our solutions are practical and effective.
It then becomes a matter of working through the design and helping them understand how our devices work.
Our sales and engineering team is highly qualified to provide training, support and troubleshooting.
We also educate on safety, focusing on key codes like NFPA 241, NFPA 72 and the International Fire Code.
In the US and Canada, each state or province has its own code, so understanding and applying these codes is crucial.
We work with fire professionals and customers to develop fire prevention plans and show how to leverage our devices and React software to meet these requirements.
Interestingly, several people in the US and Canada have described us as being ahead of the code.
If you ask people here about wireless solutions in fire prevention, you’ll probably get a blank look.
In the UK and Europe, it’s commonplace.
We believe it should be a legal requirement here too and we’re working to build support for that.
It comes down to education and awareness.
We don’t need to sell the product; we just need to educate, explain and make people aware, then listen to their needs.
Ramtech has been around for over 30 years and became part of the Halma family about two and a half years ago. We’ve been in the U.S. for about four years.
A landmark event for us is that in August, we’ll have our first U.S. office to serve the Americas, allowing us to distribute and service customers in real-time.
Our customers are very excited about this.
Let’s start with the Navy. They have specific requirements under what they call AT-10.
We have a sales engineer who specializes in this and our WASP3 devices combined with the React software cover all but one requirement on a Navy ship—the training of personnel, which we can’t cover.
The US Navy has experienced fires on ships, both in combat and during renovations, leading to total losses worth millions of dollars.
Our solution is standalone, with its own power source and RF network.
We have over 600 devices on one ship, protecting the entire vessel during reconstruction.
The network even penetrates through the steel walls, making it the most robust RF network I’ve ever seen.
The newest development is the React software.
It can run on mobile phones, tablets, or a central control center, allowing job superintendents to monitor multiple sites or different parts of a ship.
They receive alerts and can communicate across the job site or ship, regardless of location.
There are great applications we haven’t discussed, like using our system in hospitals under construction or renovation, where the permanent system is disengaged.
We also offer an interface device that connects with permanent systems, such as automatic door locks, elevators, or standpipes.
It’s versatile and can integrate with various systems, making it mobile, reusable and sustainable.
In the U.S., podium construction is a primary use for our devices.
This involves a lower level of concrete or steel with wood structures above, often up to eight stories.
Such structures pose fire concerns due to the extensive interior work.
I believe it should be mandatory in the US for any building using podium construction to use our devices—it just makes sense.
Ramtech, as part of the Halma Group, is pioneering wireless technologies in life safety and fire protection in North America.
Our devices are proven, already in use in 30 countries with over 400,000 devices deployed.
We have EN 54 certification in Europe and we’re currently undergoing UL testing in the U.S.
These devices offer a reliable wireless solution that can be trusted and used anywhere in the U.S.
This could spark a positive shift in the fire protection industry, not just for temporary solutions where none exist but by introducing proven wireless technology across the Americas.
These devices can be used in a variety of settings—mining, concert venues, colleges, universities—anywhere you need to protect people or facilitate evacuation.
Currently, in the U.S., the alternative is often outdated, like using bullhorns, radios and a lot of yelling during incidents.
We’re in the age of technology and it’s time to use proven solutions.
I tell people, once we’ve shared our solutions, the responsibility and choice to use them is yours.
We hope they choose to use them because it could make a real difference.
We believe in training multiple people on-site because some embrace change quickly, while others take more time.
It’s crucial to identify those who take safety seriously and are willing to learn the system.
We’ll support them, train them and help set up the system if needed.
We have certified distributors and partners throughout the U.S. and Canada who can implement and troubleshoot the systems.
With bilingual team members, we can also expand into Latin and South America.
We focus on scaling intelligently by building a talented, cohesive team.
We’re ready to grow as the market embraces us and having a U.S. office will make that easier.
It’s a great feeling to wake up every day knowing we might help protect people and, in some cases, save lives.
