Buildings Magazine - December 2017

make sure they properly operate
when required, but this is com-
monly neglected.

“A lot of times these systems are ignored or considered secondary. They aren’t properly inspected or maintained, and when they are needed, they don’t function correctly or at all,” says McLane.

the programming, you have to test the system in addition to annual testing so that everything works correctly. I’ve heard horror stories from people who recall that when the system was installed, everything worked great and things were computer programmed. There have been instances where people changed the programming or added

components and didn’t do the test
or didn’t do it the way it was sup-
posed to be done. And when they
needed the system, they found it
didn’t work properly.”
McLane recalls one example
where some additional program-
ming was done to a distributed
recipient system on a campus
so that everyone would receive

1IN-BUILDING AUDIO NOTIFICATION

The most basic form of mass notification for a facility is an in-building system that delivers voice messages to occupants throughout the building.

“The audible notification is by voice messages. It’s either by a pre-recorded voice message or a live voice message,” says Bryan McLane, Vice President of the National Training Center, a training provider for fire alarm and security systems. “The live message will obviously override the pre-recorded message.”

4 Major Types of Mass Notification Systems
Do you have the proper plan in place to make sure building occupants can respond to critical events promptly?
Ensure that your organization is covered by committing to a multilayered approach to mass notification. These
4 types of mass notification systems can ensure that your occupants will know what to do in an emergency no
matter where they are located.
2IN-BUILDING VISUAL NOTIFICATION

An in-building audio mass notification system is not enough on its own because it does not adequately account for any hearing-impaired occupants.

Thus, a notification system
that is visually oriented is also
necessary.

“For consideration of those who are hearing impaired, you need visible notification as well. With visible notification, you’ll have strobe lights, but you could also have message boards. The message boards will be just like a voice notification where they will actually spell out instructions vs. just flashing the light like a strobe light would,” McLane says.

In addition to providing a more ADA-compliant means of communications, visual notification – particularly with digital signs – gives all occupants another way to clearly identify the appropriate action for the event or emergency.

3WIDE-AREA MASS NOTIFICATION

In-building mass notification systems are great if you know that all of your occupants are going to be inside where they can hear it, but that is a rare occurrence, especially on multi-building campuses. For those moving from building to building, like on a university campus, you will need something that can fill in the spaces between facilities.

“For those in campus settings with multiple buildings, you use wide-area mass notification. Wide area is an audible-only notification usually using high-power speaker arrays or some sort of audible notification appliance with voice messages to give people specific voice instructions,” notes McLane.

4DISTRIBUTED RECIPIENT MASS NOTIFICATION

Given our dependence on phones, distributed recipient mass notification systems provide a means of communication that is almost certain to reach occupants, as they can deliver detailed alerts and directions to selected devices.

“Distributed recipient mass notification is where messages are directly sent out to individuals like reverse 911 calls via text messaging or email,” says McLane. “That usually follows in campus situations where you may have people in a common area, not inside of a building or where they don’t have voice notification to cover that area or any background noises.”