Mass Notification: A-Z

Recent public tragedies have often led to the lament, ‘If only there had been some way to warn people.’ New alerting technologies and systems are answering that need in a major way. Find out what you must know to tap into this growing market.

Assessing Risks and Systems

A risk assessment is the first step facility managers take to determine their readiness for an emergency. This work can entail:

  • Evaluating the potential risks/hazards that may be encountered at the site
  • Determining how events will be validated
  • Determining the normal location and flow of staff
  • Determining the normal location and flow of other people
  • Determining how and where people can be moved
  • Determining what kind of information would have to be transmitted in the event of an emergency, and where and to whom it should be directed
  • Evaluating the systems currently in place to determine if they are listed for their intended use and if they can be adapted to an MNEC system
  • Evaluating the facility infrastructure for survivability and operation during and after an event

Engineering and consulting firms can assist facility staff in performing a risk assessment. Once this is done, many facility management teams find that they need to make some enhancements to, or replacement of, their systems. Engineering consultants can also help with this next step, to determine the best remediation or action plan. Two key components of the remediation plan are training and systems. Systems can include:

  • Life safety and fire alarm
  • Fire protection
  • Video surveillance
  • Security and access control
  • Paging
  • Building automation
  • Telephone
  • Data/IT
  • Sewer
  • Plumbing
  • Electrical

All of the above, and more, become part of the mitigation or support services that can be brought to bear to manage an event successfully. Systems can be preprogrammed for certain responses, but must also be flexible enough to allow management to adjust for unforeseen events or changes to a situation.

Because MNEC systems are usually much larger in scope and size than the classic LSS project, they tend to take longer in the concept and sales cycle, taking up to 18 months to close. At the same time they often deliver a higher margin. In today’s market, many MNEC systems are a negotiated sale rather than bid/spec. This format usually works best as the MNEC systems integrator becomes an integral member of the project team.

4-Tiered Approach Works Best

MNEC systems can be said to comprise four tiers of notification. The first tier is immediate and intrusive (you can’t ignore it); the second is personal alerting (e.g. text messaging, computer pop-ups, etc.); the third is public alerting (e.g. TV, radio broadcasts); and the fourth is locally relevant alerting (e.g. bull horns, etc.).

With MNEC systems, the primary Tier 1 notification methods are audible and visual. For audible operation, the vehicle is almost always a speaker. In LSS vernacular, these systems are referred to as voice alarm or emergency voice alarm communication (EVAC) systems. Many smaller or midsize LSS have traditionally used horns rather than speakers. Horns usually produce a 3-3 temporal sound (beep, beep, beep, pause, beep, beep, beep; repeat) that initiates evacuation from the area/facility. But as voice systems become less expensive and more versatile, they are now replacing horns in many applications.

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