Mass Notification Solutions That Work Across Industries
When an emergency occurs, safety depends on the immediate distribution of information to as many people as possible. Mass notification systems are an effective way to address this need. Mass notification solutions must be able to work across multiple industries to provide the greatest possible coverage and the best chance of important information reaching people when they need it.
What is a mass notification system?
Using vocal, visual and auditory methods, a mass notification system issues notifications, warnings, safety messages, fire alarms, weather alerts or other important information to a large number of people at the same time. Mass warning solutions let groups of people know they should evacuate an area, seek shelter or take other types of emergency actions. Mass notification solutions can easily get a message out to groups of people in a single room or building, on geographically dispersed areas such as campuses or construction sites, or simultaneously to many individuals at once.
Types of mass notification systems
- Distributed recipient: Distributed recipient systems can simultaneously notify multiple individuals via e-mail messages, phone calls, text messages, computer desktop alerts or voicemail.
- In-building: These types of mass notification solutions alert the occupants of a single building to potential danger. They include fire alarms, smoke alarms, event notifications and security alarms. They can consist of audible alarms, alarms with visual elements such as flashing lights, or electronic message panels that provide brief text messages describing the situation.
- Mass area: Mass area systems effectively broadcast alarms over a wide geographical area. They can include some of the same types of alert devices as used for in-building notifications, such as electronic message panels. However, mass area notification solutions primarily consist of sirens, alarms and other loud audible systems that can be heard over a wide outdoor area. Tornado warning sirens are common examples.
Industries served by mass notification systems
Mass notification solutions can be created and customized to fit the safety and notification needs of your particular industry.
- Business offices: Business offices can benefit from in-building notification systems that provide fire and smoke alarms for the entire office. Distributed recipient systems can be used to notify individuals from groups of important events, cancellations or potentially dangerous conditions.
- Construction sites: Construction sites can be loud and chaotic, so a mass area notification solution is effective at providing alerts to employees.
- Schools and universities: Distributed notification systems can be used to alert individual students to potential dangers and dispense important information about crisis situations and the actions students should take to protect themselves. In-building alerts are appropriate for class and administration buildings, while mass notification systems could be used for important alarms that need to be heard by students, staff and employees who are outdoors.
- Hospitals and health professionals: Distributed notification systems are available that can provide alerts and information to healthcare professionals who need to react to threats to public health. In-building systems can include visual and audible alarms that can most effectively reach individuals with hearing or vision impairments. Mass alert systems can be used to warn of danger across a large healthcare campus.
- Military bases and units: Military commanders and government personnel can use a specialized distributed notification system to send different styles of notifications and alerts to personnel within their command. These high-volume, high-reliability systems can send hundreds of thousands of messages at once, prioritized as needed, and can allow two-way communication where needed.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about Plumbing, HVACR, Fire Protection and Alarm Systems in Mechanical, Commercial and Residential settings. For more information about the importance of mass notification solutions that can be used in various industries and to view projects we’ve worked on, visit our website!
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