EMERGENCY EVACUATIONS
THINK SMART TO PREPARE FOR THE WORST
As the complexity of our buildings and the uses to which we put them increase, the challenges of safely evacuating occupants increase. Advanced explain how.
The latest analogue addressable fire panels give integrators, specifiers and end users more control and peace of mind than ever.
“CLEAR NOTIFICATION TO THE FIRE SERVICE AND RESPONSIBLE
PEOPLE IN A BUILDING, ESPECIALLY MORE
COMPLEX BUILDINGS OR SITES IS ALSO KEY.”
Ideally we’ll only evacuate a building if it’s a genuine alarm and recent innovations in false alarm reduction are a major advantage. Panels like the Advanced’s MxPro 5 use automatic and human interventions, combined with intelligent detection to confirm alarm signals. Many modern point detectors are good at false signal rejection. However, when used in conjunction with an intelligent panel, they can operate in different modes to confirm their own, or similar, signals (double knock or mode change).
A new area of false alarm reduction is allowing trained residents or occupants to verify an alarm signal in given area. New devices like Advanced’s AlarmCalm Button allow a resident to signal if the local alarm is false, eg due to steam or cooking smoke. If the signal clears within a pre-programmed validation time, the system status returns to normal, but if it continues beyond the preset verification time, or any number of failsafes occur, a full alarm and the next stage of the evacuation programming are triggered.
Responsible people are also able to receive pre-warning of potential alarms, notice of validation periods or investigation delays via pagers.
26 “THE KEY TO
SAFE EVACUATION IS PLANNING.”
An integrated, secure paging system can provide rapid, detailed alerts of fire system signals, allowing them to be rapidly located and investigated. The same paging systems can also alert people with hearing impairment, using personal pagers, flashing bedside units and pillow vibrators to alert them to a fire alarm and aid evacuation.
When a genuine alarm is confirmed, the evacuation needs to proceed as safely and quickly as possible. While some buildings are relatively straightforward to evacuate, others are more complex, which is why phased evacuation can be very powerful. Modern panels can virtually divide up buildings in many ways and offer powerful cause-and-effect options.
This cause and effect programming, alongside the latest sounders, voice alarms and beacons allows the residents in most need and in most danger to be evacuated first, minimising the possibilities of
jammed and dangerous evacuation routes. Importantly, the panel and its programming must be able to manage this process in dynamic fire conditions with spreading fires and smoke in multiple areas simultaneously.
Clear notification to the fire service and responsible people in a building, especially more complex buildings or sites is also key. This is where graphical repeater panels such as Advanced’s TouchControl, which use touchscreen technology to display dynamic maps of sites, can also help. Many systems will also link with PC graphics systems to give dynamic information in control rooms, and new technologies are allowing fire and rescue services to see this information before they arrive on site.
Evacuation can also be affected by modern threats like terror attack. Where muster stations put evacuated occupants at risk, new policies see residents told to move away from the building and the head count is replaced with ‘clear floor’ surveys by marshalls. When safe to return, text messages are sent to occupants either automatically via the fire system or a third party solution.
Finally, adequate emergency lighting is vital. Modern emergency lighting panels, such as Lux Intelligent from Advanced, can self-test each luminaire and ensure they work when they need to. The range of luminaires, both traditional and LED is now huge and environmental lighting can be converted to emergency use, delivering compliance and performance benefits.
The key to safe evacuation is planning. The fire risk assessment, evacuation strategy and specification of a suitable fire system are vital.
www.advancedco.com www.tomorrowshs.com
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