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 alerting are a few that can be used in the overall MNS systems need to communicate to occupants by giving real time information and instructions during an emergency Ed Graves president Antronnix Silver Spring emphasizes notification needs to provide a means for the security staff to be to notify the occupants via strobes voice messaging alarms and give instruction times the message is not to evacuate because the threat could be outside such as a or biological threat is where the newer computer technology can deliver recorded messages to large of people in a very short time Voice evacuation and wide area networks play a role in communicating Often messages are sent through multiple communications telephone email pager fax personal digital assistants PDAs computer pop and other channels They are faster more accurate more effective and less expensive manual systems integrating fire security and communications provides emergency notification occupants of a building throughout multiple buildings in much larger outdoor areas or virtually any other venue It also possible to network indoor and outdoor components a fully integrated campus type emergency notification system order to prevent the emergency from affecting a large number of occupants an action plan to be in place that will assist on site emergency management staff with the response handling of the situation until authorities arrive on the scene Creating a master plan that all fire and life safety security and notification systems are integrated and ready an emergency arise Emergency preparedness is a vital component to the overall Vulnerabilities and threats can be evaluated on an ongoing basis by considering could possibly happen Where do you want people to go Where are safe areas prevent accidental or misuse of an MNS appropriate security measures such as multi passwords and encryption should be used Any emergency condition should first validated as a real emergency before the communications system is deployed These should also include self monitoring capabilities for failures or disruptions of Additionally new systems must be able to automatically report any failures or to a central station and or remote stations Sensor Advanced Ideas Advanced Solutions Life Safety Through Mass Notification applications for MNS are numerous and influenced by many agencies For example the Occupational Safety and Health OSHA the Nuclear Regulatory Commission NRC and the Environmental Protection Agency EPA are involved in the petrochemical and power industries The Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA is in natural disaster type applications The NFPA 2007 edition includes guidelines in Section 6.8.4.7 notification will also become an essential part of NFPA 72 2010 edition Appendix G The change in the UFC 04 instigated the integration of mass notification concepts with existing requirements in NFPA 72 It addresses how maintain code compliance and testing of existing fire alarm systems while allowing mass notification to have a higher operation The final decision maker on MNS code requirements is the Authority Having Jurisdiction actuality fire alarm systems incorporating voice communications capabilities have been used for decades to provide notification to warn building occupants of fire conditions as well as other emergency situations such as severe alerts and chemical spills The underlying premise behind this practice is that it enables the code driven reliability survivability of fire alarm systems to be used in delivering multiple types of communications This results in high level performance and avoids the additional costs of installing and maintaining multiple systems fire detection systems inherent nature already provides mass notification to warn building occupants of situations The regulated and code driven reliability of a fire detection system makes it a highly effective platform a mass notification solution The rules testing procedures and installation practices are already established Also the responders are already familiar with the fire detection equipment many with years of hands on experience fire and life safety systems have expanded their voice messaging to incorporate mass notification features The has the ability via LAN