Case Studies

A School Campus had an existing PA system, however they did not have a Lockdown Alert system. A small committee was established to review the school’s requirements and to make a recommendation to the school council.

When the committee investigated the current PA they found that, although it did have an Evacuation Alert, there was only 1 alert button and that was located next to the PA Amplifier. This raised a number of concerns:

• If the source of an incident requiring evacuation was located in the office area where the Evac Button and the PA system was located, the button may not be accessible.
• If an incident occurred anywhere within the school, someone would need to ring the school office to raise the alarm or physically go to the office to raise the alarm, both situations which would potentially create unacceptable delays.
• The community gymnasium located on the school grounds and extensively used for sports and PE during school hours was not connected to the school PA system and did not hear alerts.
• All of the above concerns also apply to any Lockdown alert system that might be deployed.

The AARC-EVAC receiver/message player PA input system in conjunction with a standalone receiver/message player were selected for recommendation to school council for the following key reasons, then later adopted and installed:

• Multiple alert panels could be deployed throughout the school to cover all areas and significantly reduce response times.
• The AARC-EVAC system could be used for both Lockdown and Evacuation alerts, plus the added bonus of access to zoned assistance messages for use by staff if required. They could even dedicate a handheld alert panel to be carried by the staff member in yard duty.
• The ability of the system to include a standalone receiver/message player unit that could be installed into the community gymnasium.
• The system’s ability to be easily and cost effectively installed and deployed across the whole campus, due to it being all radio linked and not requiring wiring.
• In addition it was recommended that the gymnasium standalone receiver/message player unit also incorporate a visual alert beacon and that a standalone visual alert beacon be fitted the school’s office reception area, as these were the most likely areas to encounter persons with hearing impairments.

The AARC-EVAC standalone receiver/message system was selected to address these needs for the following key reasons:

1. Multiple standalone receiver message players could be deployed throughout the venue to cover all areas to form one system.
2. The system being independent of the PA systems and with the emergency alert sirens and messages all pre-recorded and fully automated. There is no requirement for staff to make announcements over different PA’s or to send radio pager messages to security staff asking for assistance.
3. The system’s ability to easily and cost effectively provide Alert Panels distributed strategically throughout the venue.
4. The system’s ability to broadcast unique S.O.S. messages calling for security to report to the different zoned locations across the venue. E.g. “Security to Piano Bar… Security to Piano Bar please”.
5. The cost-effectiveness of the system, with all system components being wireless/radio linked and preconfigured, installation time and cost were minimal and there would be little to no disruption to the venue operation during installation.

A joinery business employs a large range of woodworking machines and as a result of the company undertaking an OH&S risk assessment, they identified a number of risks:

As the highest priority, they identified the need for the fastest possible response time in the event of any accident or injury that might occur within the factory.

As a high priority, they identified that due to the use of electrically powered machinery and their extensive use of timber, the work place potentially has a heightened fire risk and needed an evacuation alert system.

 The AARC-EVAC standalone system was selected to address these needs for the following reasons:

• The system’s ability to easily and cost effectively provide Alert Panels that could be distributed throughout the factory.
• The system’s ability to broadcast unique S.O.S. messages for different zoned locations within the factory.
• The UPS battery back-up self-contained siren and message player units providing operation even with power out. (Machine overload, electrical motor stalling/jamming creates a fire risk and potentially the tripping of a circuit breaker, resulting in loss of mains power).
• The ability of the system to also provide visual flashing beacon alerts in a workplace which can be a very noisy environment and where employees all wear hearing protection devices.
• As a wireless linked system, alert panel placement provides for maximum flexibility, with no initial wiring and no re-wiring if in the future the alert panel needs to be relocated.