Page 102 - Security Today, July/August 2022

"A high-quality public address and mass notification system is essential for dealing with security and safety challenges. To be truly effective, a public address and emergency sound system must deliver exceptional performance, clear intelligibility and reliability."
By Tom Mechler
Automate Your
Mass Notification
Protecting students, faculty and staff is top of mind for campuses. With the types of threats that campuses are fac- ing today, facility managers and secu- rity personnel need options to enhance the protection of all on campus. A public address and/or mass notification sys- tem is an important tool that can support buildings and campuses both large and small to alert occupants of critical events such as fire, an armed or dangerous person or inclement weather.
A high-quality public address and mass notification system is essential for dealing with security and safety challenges. To be truly effective, a public address and emer- gency sound system must deliver exceptional performance, clear intelligibility and reliabil- ity.
Audio Intelligibility
Everyone has been in a facility and heard a message that cannot be accurately under- stood. A message was communicated, but those in the building had no idea what it was or what action to take. Many public address systems do not consider factors like back- ground noise, occupancy noise, building construction material or changes in the facil- ity that may affect whether messages are heard or understood. For a public address system to be effective, the message must be heard, must be intelligible, and must be delivered without delay. The correct spacing and type of speaker is an important factor in this. Using high-quality systems installed by sound professionals ensures this for build- ings and/or campuses. Some systems can even listen to background noise and auto- matically adjust their volume for better per- formance.
Audio intelligibility is even more critical when it comes to an emergency event, espe-
cially if the system changes instructions based upon the situation. If the system tells occupants to go to the second floor, and they hear the seventh floor, it can be disastrous. Intelligibility is a key part of a public address system—in the equipment itself, design, and the installation.
System Zoning
Today’s IP-based public address and mass notifications systems can be zoned, meaning that they can announce different messages in different locations or areas. This capability is helpful if different areas have varying needs for background music, announcements, classroom audio or emergency audio, and it becomes critically important in an emergen- cy event. Exit or hold-in-place instructions may be different for different buildings, floors and wings.
When severe weather is on its way, occu- pants may be instructed to go to a shelter area within the building. If there is a fire, people may be evacuated in different paths. If an armed or dangerous person is on site, students and staff may be instructed to hold in place.
A system that can adapt and deliver differ- ent messages to different loudspeakers is key to providing a system that helps occupants when it matters most.
Integration with Other Systems
Some systems can be integrated with the two-way radios used by administration teams and/or security departments, allowing personnel to publicize messages over the public address system and receive messages from the system. This integration provides a more efficient and accurate response in time- critical situations.
Integrating the public address system with the video surveillance system can help the
security department react more efficiently to events. By locating speakers near critical cameras within the campus, security staff can use an integrated microphone to com- municate with people in an affected area and see what is happening at the same time.
As part of an overall paging and mass notification system, integrating with other building systems can improve safety and functionality. Using a building’s intrusion alarm system, for example, can help auto- mate messages, making it easier to control and even report system malfunctions.
An intrusion system’s main job is to detect unwanted events and communicate them. Often, this communication is sent to a moni- toring center or guard station that dispatches help, but an intrusion system can also be integrated into a public address mass notifi- cation system to provide additional func- tionality.
A mass notification area in an intrusion system creates a supervised network of actu- ation pull stations for severe weather, fire, or armed or dangerous intruders. Occupants can activate these events from hundreds of different locations throughout the facility, and the system logic programming and inte- gration can ensure the proper response based upon the location and type or combi- nation of events. If first responders need to provide audio instructions, the system can be configured to override any automated messages, ensuring that the first responder has control of the situation.
Other security risks, such as propped doors, can be controlled and reported also. Students and staff may not understand the security risk of leaving a door propped open that should normally be locked, such as a door in a dorm at the bottom of the stairs or in the back alley. Someone may find it is eas- ier to prop that door open to get back into a
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Emergency Response with an Integrated Public Address Mass Notification System