Voice alarm system

Identifying and maintaining system components, how systems operate, problems to watch for, safety requirements, ensuring compliance, testing, manual fire boxes, emergency voice/alarm, and telegraphic alarms. 

Require an alarm system that includes voice communication or sound signals such as bells, whistles, or horns. 

The preferred means of alerting employees to a fire onergency must be part of the plan. An employee alarm system must be available throughout the woikplace complex and must be used for emergency alerting for evacuation. The alarm system may be voice communication or sound signals such as bells, whistles, or horns. Employees must know the evacuation signal. 

Alarm systems were designed to ensure that there was a clear understanding of what actions are required for given situations. A voice-over announcement system was implemented that contains various context-sensitive prerecorded messages that tell personnel—in short, simple terms— what to do in a given situation. For example, a hazardous gas alarm... 

Audible messages can also be part of the alarm system particularly where members of the public are present. These will alert the occupants to the fact of a fire and can be used to direct them to the nearest fire exits by the safest routes. Tests have shown that the public react more quickly to an audible message than they do to a bell or other sound. The standards required for voice alarms are contained in BS 5839 Part 8 and EN 60849. ... 

Communication problems. Communication between the worker inside the confined space and the attendent outside is of utmost importance. If the worker should suddenly feel distressed and not be able to summon help, an injury could become a fatality. Frequently, the body positions that are assumed in a confined space make it difficult for the attendant to detect an unconscious worker. When visual monitoring of the worker is not possible because of the design of the confined space or location of the entry hatch, a voice or alarm-activated explosion-proof-type of communication system will be necessary. An approved type of illumination is required to provide sufficient visibility. 

Employers with 10 or fewer employees in a particular workplace may use direct voice communication as an acceptable procedure for sounding the alarm, provided all employees can hear (or otherwise sense) the alarm. Such workplaces need not have a back-up system.)... 

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