System Sensor Enhancing Life Safety Through MNS

September 2008 Life Safety Through Mass Notification Foster of Marketing Sensor Life Safety Through Mass Notification high-rises, sprawling college campuses, mass transit hubs can have or thousands of people occupying them at any given moment. When a crisis it critical to protect lives, and that job becomes difficult when people are throughout a facility or across a wide area. notification systems are becoming an integral part of both emergency and non- communications for organizations of all sizes and in all industries. To fully the entire scope of protecting life safety, let look at what mass notification entails. concept of mass notification systems (MNS) was born out of the collective inability maintain communications and to direct building occupants to safety during the events 9/11. This crisis prompted the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to develop a set of Facilities Criteria (UFC) that, among many other things, mandates the installation MNS in all DoD facilities worldwide. objective of the UFC program is to streamline the military criteria system by eliminating of information, increasing reliance on private-sector standards, and creating a efficient criteria development and publishing process. In short, since 2004, mass has been required in all new DoD construction as well as in leased buildings, expeditionary and temporary DoD structures. in the implementation phase of MNS, the military fire protection engineers the inherent value, intelligibility, reliability and survivability of Emergency Voice Communications Systems (EVACS), which would support the objectives of mass Consequently, the latest edition of UFC 04-021-01 requires combination voice and mass notification systems. recently, President Bush signed an executive order to create a National Public Alert Warning System to enhance the nation ability to respond during a crisis by interfacing and private-sector MNS. If there is a silver lining, it is that quantum leaps in technology offer a wide array of means for the delivery of timely, detailed to facility personnel, occupants and emergency responders whether across or across the globe. From a suburban apartment complex to a sprawling college to the far-flung offices of an international corporation, developing and maintaining effective MNS is not just a hopeful ideal, but a realizable goal. System a great deal of misinformation about what constitutes a mass notification system. of MNS as a gigantic public address system that provides prerecorded or live communication to personnel over a wide area by use of a highly secure encrypted network is misleading, and it only one aspect of mass notification. MNS is simply a loudspeaker system; communication is only part of the solution. True mass systems involve a lot more than text messaging and intercoms. They involve response to emergencies at every level of the organization a communications emergency management tool. UFC that is used by the DoD defines MNS as such: broad description of a Mass System is that it is both a communications and emergency management that provides realtime instructions and information to building occupants or nearby Sensor. Advanced Ideas. Advanced Solutions. Life Safety Through Mass Notification during an emergency event or situation. But a Mass Notification System also has antiterrorism purpose. It is sometimes in conflict with the basic purpose of a building alarm system. As an example, an emergency situation may call occupants to and or in place not evacuate the building. reality is that every MNS is unique. There is not a one-size-fits-all solution for each But there are similar aspects that are the common denominator that can formulate complete system. The balanced MNS needs to include protection systems, alerting systems action plans. systems must be able to detect dangerous situations and assist first responders to take control. Systems such as fire detection, fire suppression, security surveillance, automation and weather alertin