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Mass Notification System, What Is It?
Mass notification systems originated with the military in response to terrorism. The Department of Defense requires mass notification systems in all new and remodeled military buildings governed by the UFC (Unified Facilities Criteria). Mass notification systems have been commonplace in military settings for many years and are now beginning to trickle out into our everyday surroundings.
What is a mass notification system? A mass notification system is a system designed to notify people spread out over a large campus, complex, or multi-building facility in the event of an emergency. Mass notification has been around for many years in one form or another. The outdoor severe weather sirens that are tested every Friday at 11:00 AM or the Amber Alert messages that are on the electronic interstate signs, both are forms of mass notification.
Mass notification is really just a voice evacuation system that is utilized for various events such as weather, fire, chemical spills, or intruder alerts just to name a few. Mass notification systems will utilize other systems such as indoor and outdoor speakers, text messaging, electronic signage and email and are ideal for corporate campuses, universities, large manufacturing facilities, convention centers, and large churches.
Most buildings have a fire alarm system and many may have some form of paging system to alert building occupants in the event of a non-fire emergency. The problem is these systems are usually independent of one another. The use of two separate systems historically results in a lack of coordination and confusion. It is recognized that a single integrated combination system may offer both economic and technical advantages.
Although there are no codes that require a mass notification system in a public building (outside of military use), the 2007 Edition of NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm Code, recognizes their benefit and has included an Appendix E to provide building owners and designers guidance for application, installation, performance, and maintenance of mass notification systems. NFPA 72 now recognizes and allows combination fire and mass notification systems provided system components are properly listed and used in accordance with manufacturer’s recommendations.
So how would a mass notification system look in your building? Your building would have a listed combination of fire alarm and mass notification control panel with one or more local operator consoles located throughout the facility. The local operator consoles display all system information just like a remote fire alarm annunciator panel, but it also has several buttons that can be programmed to activate pre-recorded mass notification voice messages. In rooms and areas with fire alarm notification appliances (horn/strobes), an additional notification appliance consisting of an amber strobe light mounted on a white based with the word “ALERT” is installed.
In the event of a fire emergency, the fire alarm notification appliances activate and a fire evacuation or protect in place message is announced. If a non-fire emergency, such as a tornado warning, was encountered, an authorized operator could push the appropriate button on the local operator console, and the amber notification appliances would activate in conjunction with a pre-recorded voice message notifying all occupants of the appropriate information.
The important thing to remember about mass notification systems is that they can be integrated with your building fire alarm system and they are very flexible which means they can be programmed to meet specific needs as they relate to your facilities’ emergency plan. For more information about mass notification systems and the Gamewell-FCI’s E3 Series™ Fire Alarm System that can be used for mass notification scenarios, please visit www.usautomaticsprinkler.com or www.gamewell-fci.com.
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