Alarm and Surveillance

Alarm and surveillance systems are an important element of fire prevention. These alarm and surveillance systems  

Failure to promptly report a fire could result in greater damage and, more importantly, could delay warning affected personnel. The alarm and surveillance element of fire prevention triggers emergency response and has a major impact on the control of property losses, safety of personnel, and community impact. Some key components of alarm and surveillance are  

Each type of emergency alarm or signal must clearly inform those onsite of the actions to be taken. This requires training and testing of the alarm so personnel can recognize the alarm and take appropriate action. Some of these alarms may be automatic. For example, detection of a fire may be signaled directly by the protection or detection system rather than by an individual. This alarm signal may alert not only personnel in the immediate area, but all facility personnel and the community fire department. 

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GIS and GPS have provided a whole new level of security for travelers. They have also enabled the development of transportation security features such as General Motors OnStar system, the European Space Agency s Satellite Based Alarm and Surveillance System (SASS), and several other satellite-based security applications. They invariably use the GPS and GIS networks to provide the almost instantaneous location of individuals and events as needed. 

Nonmilitary infrared apphcations for germanium include CO2 lasers (qv), intmsion alarms, and pohce and border patrol surveillance devices. Germanium is used as a thin-film coating for infrared materials to decrease reflection losses or to provide heavy filtering action below 2 p.m. 

The most utilized and reliable process control in the petrofeum and related industries is human observation and surveillance. Local pressure and level gages along with control room instrumentation are provided so that human observation and actions can occur to maintain the proper process conditions. First stage process alarms are provided to alert operators to conditions that they may not have already noticed. Typically when secondary alarm stages are reached, computer control systems employed to automatically implement remedial actions to the process. 

Detect countermeasures allow facility personnel to identify surveillance and incipient attack. Security cameras play an important role in detection, and recent developments in software make it possible to pick unusual behavior out of crowds for more thorough investigation. Entry alarms and proximity alarms are additional detection countermeasures. In extremely sensitive cases, detection countermeasures may be set a distance away from the facility to identify a possible attack before it arrives at the boundary. 

In particular, the therapy of severely ill patients with deficiencies of one or several vital systems is based on the surveillance of the important body functions. In addition, the correct function of the medical equipment used and the connections to the patient need to be monitored because a malfunction of devices assisting vital body functions may be fatal for the patient. During intensive care, for continuously monitored parameters automatic alarm systems are used which signal a deviation from preset alarm limits by visual and/or audible alarms and which automatically start a recorder to record selected parameters during the alarm situation. 

Surveillance systems Surveillance systems can support many applications, such as healthcare and unusual-event alarms. Traditional surveillance systems require a human operator to constantly monitor the scene, which is tedious and inefficient. Video-based activity-recognition systems can replace or help human operators monitor anomalies and interesting activity. 

In Chapter 5.4, optical ultraviolet radiation sensors are described, including UV-enhanced silicon-based pn diodes, detectors made from other wide band gap materials in crystalline or polycrystalline form, the latter being a new, less costly alternative. Other domestic applications are personal UV exposure dosimetry, surveillance of sun beds, flame scanning in gas and oil burners, fire alarm monitors and water sterilization equipment surveillance. 

After the initial programming of the state-of-the-art data collector units, a display window on the module provides a description of each piece of equipment on the surveillance route in sequence. The vibration inspector, prompted by the instrument readout, walks up to the operating equipment described on the display and thrusts a probe on the indicated bearing or other data point. When the analyst presses a button, the module captures the vibration level and any required analysis data. The data collector automatically identifies troubled sets based upon preset alarm values and collects spectrum data. Once the data col-... 

In summary, an endeavor has been made to cover briefly the effect of several pesticides in our total environment, from the food we consume and the soil in which it is grown to the water we drink and fish in and even to the air we breathe. Of course, with a subject as broad as this, only a small fraction of the actual research conducted in this general area could be cited. Obviously, the fate and persistence of pesticides in our total environment are highly complex and worthy of our continued surveillance. However, we should always keep this problem of pesticide contamination of our environment in its proper perspective. Even though trace quantities of pesticide residues are found in our water, fish, milk, etc., and perhaps somewhat higher concentrations are found in some vegetables and fruit we may consume, there is no reason for unwarranted alarm. When pesticides are used properly, the concentration of residues reported are almost always far below levels judged hazardous to health... 

Besides these stationary alarms, three cars at different organisations contain the necessary measurement equipment. Additional cars can be equipped to do surveillance. For measurement of foodstuff, drinking water, or fodder, specialised laboratories exist, which also in normal times record measurements and regularly take samples in the region, to measure and to communicate the results to the National Alarm Center (NAZ). The army provides, in the case of an alarm situation, personnel, an army laboratory, and a surveillance helicopter. 

Medical surveillance also includes monitoring for a single case of new disease caused by a chemical agent that triggers an alarm in an astute clinician. Such cases, called sentinel events, result in further study and analysis to determine a true cause and effect relationship. Historically, numerous chemical agent induced disease processes have been determined through medical surveillance and sentinel event determination. For example, the relationship between vinyl chloride exposure and hepatic angiosarcoma development was determined by astute medical surveillance. 

Additional inservice surveillance testing and inspections are performed for two primary purposes. The first is to determine actual facility operating conditions, and to verify the status of operating equipment and the operability of standby equipment and alarms. The second is to identify operational deficiencies that may be present and initiate appropriate corrective actions. Details of these tasks and the frequency with which they are performed are formalized in an operational surveillance procedure. 

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