Voice Evacuation and Mass Notification
Emergency voice communication and mass notification, followed through Bramwell Fire Protection's Charlotte crew on an 18-story residential high-rise and a school: why voice beats tones and where the IBC requires it, amplifiers, zones and channels, 25 V and 70 V speaker circuits, alert, evacuation and relocation messages, phased evacuation in high-rise buildings and hospitals, speech intelligibility and STI, firefighter telephones, two-way communication for areas of refuge and elevator landings, mass notification layers and priority, and testing and commissioning to NFPA 72.
FAT-310 12 lessons · 4 h 3 min ▶ Video lessons coming soon
Offered by HSM University · Fire Alarm Systems
This is the American version of this course. See the Canadian version.
What you'll learn
- Explain why voice messages are more effective than tones and identify where codes require emergency voice communication
- Describe voice system architecture, size amplifiers with spare capacity and lay out speaker zones and channels
- Install, tap, phase and terminate 25 V and 70 V speaker circuits and check line loss and speaker spacing
- Write, sequence, load and verify alert, evacuation, relocation, shelter and all-clear messages
- Program and test phased, selective and relocation strategies for high buildings and hospitals, including edge cases
- Explain speech intelligibility and the Speech Transmission Index and apply it by acoustically distinguishable space
- Install, supervise and test firefighter telephone systems and coordinate with radio coverage systems
- Install and test accessible two-way call stations for areas of refuge, elevator lobbies and stairs, including dial-out
- Describe the layers of mass notification and design its scope from a risk analysis
- Apply a priority matrix between fire alarm and mass notification functions and test the combinations
- Measure audibility and intelligibility with calibrated instruments and record the results as a baseline
- Plan and carry out the commissioning of a voice system through to the authority's witness test
Course content
12 lessons · 4 h 3 min total · final exam
- 1 Why voice beats tones: emergency voice communication 21 min · quiz
- 2 Voice evacuation system architecture: amplifiers, zones and paging 20 min · quiz
- 3 Speakers, taps and 25/70 V circuits for fire alarm voice 20 min · quiz
- 4 Messages: alert, evacuate, relocate and shelter 20 min · quiz
- 5 Phased and selective evacuation in high buildings and hospitals 20 min · quiz
- 6 Intelligibility: STI, acoustics and design for speech 20 min · quiz
- 7 Firefighter telephones and emergency two-way communication 20 min · quiz
- 8 Two-way communication for areas of refuge and elevator lobbies 21 min · quiz
- 9 Mass notification systems: in-building, wide-area and distributed recipient 20 min · quiz
- 10 Integration of mass notification with fire alarm: priority 21 min · quiz
- 11 Testing voice systems: audibility and intelligibility measurements 20 min · quiz
- 12 Capstone: commissioning the voice system for Riverlight Tower 20 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
Emergency voice communication and mass notification, followed through Bramwell Fire Protection's Charlotte crew on an 18-story residential high-rise and a school: why voice beats tones and where the IBC requires it, amplifiers, zones and channels, 25 V and 70 V speaker circuits, alert, evacuation and relocation messages, phased evacuation in high-rise buildings and hospitals, speech intelligibility and STI, firefighter telephones, two-way communication for areas of refuge and elevator landings, mass notification layers and priority, and testing and commissioning to NFPA 72.