Warning and Evacuation Management System

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Warning and evacuation management system (WEMS) is a part of fire protection system and is designed for timely information of employees and visitors of the facility about fire via signals from automatic fire alarm system and arrangement of people evacuation with the help of light and sound messages delivered to the evacuation zone.

Besides technical means, the WEMS is a complex of organizational measures determining the behavior of employees and visitors of the facility in case of emergency.

Organizational measures comprise induction and routine trainings in fire safety, routine check of fire-fighting means, arrangement of emergency training exercises to master the skills of evacuation of personnel and visitors.

Technical means of the WEMS comprise sound, sound and light and audible alarms, illuminated-indicator panels, intensifiers, sources of signal, monitoring and control units.

Depending on the type of warning and other characteristics, the WEMS may be divided into 5 types: The WEMS of type 1 and 2 with sound warning, the WEMS of types 3-5 with audible warning. Requirements to each type concerning the content and functionality of equipment is indicated in the set of rules SP 3.1313.2009 Systems of fire protection. System of annunciation and management of human evacuation at fire. Requirements of fire safety. In this SP there are also criteria to equip the facility with a corresponding type of the WEMS .

Light alarms such as dynamic direction indicators, beacons, strobe lights etc. are usually connected to the specialized WEMS equipment and work under the voltage of 12-24 VDC. Exit illuminated-indicator panels and statistical indicators of the direction of movement may be included in the WEMS weak-current equipment and in systems of power supply and illumination of the facility and work with 220V AC source with integrated battery redundancy.

Illumination systems of type 1 and 2 are often implemented with the equipment of automatic fire alarm system, have a common interface line and a complete integration with fire alarm. The examples of such equipment are devices are Orion integrated security system produced by Bolid Innovative Company CJSC and Rubezh devices of RUBEZH Scientific-Industrial Complex.

Audible alarm systems of type 3-5 are usually implemented on separate equipment of mono-block (type 3 and 4) and rack variant. Controlling signals from an automatic fire alarm system in this case are usually transmitted via relay terminals of a dry contact or open collector type. Electric power supply of the system is implemented by 220 VAC network, audible alarms are usually supplied with 100 V. Examples of such equipment are devices of Sonar, Trombon, Roxton etc.

According to SP 3.1313.2009, the level of the WEMS alarms noise equipped in the premises shall be at least more than 15 dBA of the permitted noise level in the premises. During design this requirement is confirmed by electrical and acoustic calculation of the system. Data for calculation are actual data of the noise level in the premises and technical characteristics of the mounted equipment. If it is not possible to measure noise in the premises it is allowed to take values according to SP 51.13330.2011 Sound protection. Updated version of SNiP 23-03-2003 for each type of premise.

The alarm system shall also consider such parameters as the drop of voltage in the warning line and time of autonomous operation. For rack systems heat emission of active equipment shall be considered.

When designing a system, specialists of ST Solution carry out all the necessary calculations, which enables a quality and verified solution for the Customer corresponding to all the necessary regulatory requirements.

Besides the functions of local and facility warning system,the WEMS of type 3-5 in some cases are used to transmit civil defense and emergency situation messages with a priority of Fire signal from fire alarm equipment of the facility. The possibility to transmit civil defense and emergency situation messages of the WEMS is enabled by special interface devices connection of which to civil defense and emergency situation system is implemented according to a special requirement specification.

The audible alarm system also performs functions of music and informational messages transmission. In this case theWEMS rack is equipped with mixer and additional sound sources, such as media player and/or radio tuner.

ST Solution company has experience in development of design solutions, mounting and updating of the WEMS systems of different type and configuration. Our specialists installed the equipment of Bolid Innovative Company, LPA, Inter-M, Trombon, TOA, Roxton, Bosch etc.

We will be glad to develop and implement the WEMS projects in the following fields: