# Presentation: 258101

## Mass Notification Systems in the Terminal Environment

***Mass Notification Systems in the Terminal Environment***

- March 8th, 2007
- 30th Annual Airports Conference
- Hershey, Pa

- Rajeev K. Arora, P.E.
- Executive Vice President
- Manik K. Arora, P.E.
- President and CEO

- Gary Pollack
- Product Manager – Mass Notification Systems

## Goals

*To understand the role of Mass Notification in Aviation facilities.*

**Goals**

*Look at the use of consolidated systems to meet this need.*

## Presentation Overview

** ****Current Landscape at Aviation Facilities **
** ****Mass Notification in the Airport Environment**
** ****Present & Future Technologies**
** ****Challenges Involved**
** ****Questions**

**Presentation Overview**

## What is a Mass Notification System?

- The objective of mass notification is to manage   people's actions during and after an incident or event.
- Use of the system is not limited to emergencies
- Messages may be localized or multiple messages transmitted to different areas simultaneously

## What is a Mass Notification System?

- An MNS may be installed in a single building or facility, throughout a campus or a large geographic area.
- Notification combines the use of tones, intelligible voice communications, visible signaling, and textual and graphical information
- The instructions may be pre-recorded or live
- Messages may also be sent to two-way radios, pagers, mobile and fixed telephones, PDAs, etc.

## Mass Notification vs. Public Address

- Must use equipment listed by a nationally recognized testing laboratory (NRTL).
- Are installed and inspected following recognized building codes.
- Are required to monitor the integrity of all components and their interconnection
- Most PA system installations:
- Do not require equipment listed by a nationally recognized testing laboratory.
- Are not required to comply with building codes
- Do not supervise system integrity.
**When needed in an emergency the system must work!**

## Where did the MNS Concept Begin?

- Air raid sirens from WWII and the cold war
- Sirens for Tornado, Hurricanes, and tsunamis.
**The modern concept of mass notification began with the DoD.**
- The Kobar Tower Report issued on 7-31-97 concluded:
- No effective alarm systems,
- No mass notification capabilities
- And that damage and loss of life could have been minimized
- UFC 4-010-0, DOD Minimum Antiterrorism Standards for Buildings
- issued7/31/2002
- UFC 4-010-01 is analogous to the building code
- Requires antiterrorism features in buildings
-  UFC 4-021-01, Design and O&M: Mass Notification Systems
- issued 12/18/2002, multiple revisions since
- UFC 4-021-01 analogous to NFPA standards
- Criteria for MNS design. Installation, & maintenance

## NFPA Gets Involved

- Mass Notification is included in NFPA 72-2007
- A new Annex is added. Scope closely follows UFC 4-021-01
- References to Fire Alarm in the body of the text modified top allow for Mass Notification where appropriate
- Other changes made to allow for MNS.
- Mass Notification allowed a higher priority then fire alarm
- The NFPA Standards Council adds a standing Technical Committee for Mass Notification Systems
- These new standards will change the way safety,       security, and building systems are integrated to                 save lives.

## MNS Moves from Military to Civilian

- First people looked at using these systems to minimize the loss of life from terrorist activities against government and civilian targets
- Next they were considered for weather and geologic events
- This was followed by thoughts of using the same systems for industrial accidents.
- On June 26, 2006, Executive order issued by George Bush
- Titled “PUBLIC ALERT AND WARNING SYSTEM”
- “It is the policy of the United States to have an *effective, reliable, integrated, flexible, and comprehensive system to alert and warn the American people* in situations of war, terrorist attack, natural disaster, or other hazards to public safety and well-being (public alert and warning system), taking appropriate account of the functions,  capabilities, and needs of the private sector and of all levels of government in our Federal system, and to ensure that under all conditions the President can communicate with the American people. “

## Why Not Use The Fire Alarm System?

**Different Objectives**
**Fire Alarm  **
**Evacuate or Stand by to Evacuate**
**People are conditioned to leave the way               they arrived**
**Mass Notification  **
**Evacuate or Stay Put or Relocate to a Safer place**
**Correct response will vary with each incident.**
**What happens when a security or terrorist event includes the activation of the fire alarm system?**
**Evacuation may not be the appropriate response. Often the fire alarm is used to make people easier targets. **
**Information and instructions need to direct and reassure all of the facilities occupants.**

## Current Landscape

- Increasing traffic at Airports
- Lack of Latest Technologies
- Human Response in Emergencies
- Changes in Priorities Post 911
- Operations Emergency Response Plan

**Current Landscape**

_**Issues affecting Emergency Notification, Management, and Response**_

## Current Landscape

** **

**FIRE ALARM**

**TACS**

**INFO DISPLAY**

**ROAD SIGNAGE**

**GROUND CONTROL**

-  Initiation via Heat, Smoke, Manual Pull, Waterflow, Monitor Module Input
-  Notification via Speakers, Strobes, Horns, Bells
-  Control through Addressable Control Modules

-  Activation via Automatic pre-programmed messaging or Manual Override
-  Notification via Speakers
-  Systems either complex wide or specific to terminal

**Current Landscape**

-  Message Display through local programming or through network communication via PC

-  Communications through phone lines and/or Radio, manual messaging

- Receives information from Airline host, FAA ATC System, Subscription Services (FlightView)
-  Displays Airline Departures and Arrivals Information and Advertising, Visual Paging, etc.

## Current Landscape

** ****MNS centered around Fire Alarm System because of stringent  code requirements**
** ****Speaker technology lacking due to stringent UL Standards**
** ****New trends in Terminal design leading to need for greater technology to increase voice intelligibility  (i.e. Reverberation/Echo)**

**Current Landscape**

**Lacking Latest Technologies**

## Current Landscape

**“...*****the response in an Assembly building could be expected to be slow, and in some instances, occupants may completely ignore the signal*****”**

**Current Landscape**

## Current Landscape

**“...*****it is not so much the type of building that makes a difference but the occupants perception of their role in the building*****”**

**Current Landscape**

## Current Landscape

***“...******In an assembly building such as an AIRPORT,  the activation of the fire alarm without any additional cue may not trigger any particular response from occupants visiting these premises”***

**Current Landscape**

***“ ******Visitors act as visitors; they wait to be told and directed by staff if something is expected of them”***

## Current Landscape

- Many of these occupants are new to the facility and will have no idea what to do in response to an emergency signal.

**Current Landscape**

**Egress Issues**

## Current Landscape

**Multiple sounds and lights are part of the normal background**
** ****Lack of Voice Intelligibility**
** ****Lack of Voice Evacuation**

**Current Landscape**

## Current Landscape

**Where do they go!**

- Evacuation plans may cause more problems, then help
- Placing occupants on tarmac raises security concerns
- Returning to unsecured areas delays departures

**Current Landscape**

- Goal is to relocate screened passengers area that allows for easy return to holding room.

## Current Landscape

**Reconsider Emergency Response for the following events.**

**Fire**
**Viral Outbreak**
**Weather events**
**Chemical spills**
**Maintenance Emergencies**
**Terrorist attacks**

**Current Landscape**

## Current Landscape

** ****Police, **
** ****Fire Department **
** ****Maintenance**
** ****Operations**

**Current Landscape**

**Different responsibilities**
**All important facets of the Emergency Response.**

**Mass Notification Systems in the      Terminal Environment**

## Expanding the Traditional Fire Alarm System

## System Architecture – Integrating Existing Systems

## A look at the AODB Interface

## Real World Terminal Scenarios

-  Fire
-  Security Breach, Bomb Scare
-  Chemical Release
-  Fuel Spill
-  Etc.
- _MNS Advantage:_
-  Consolidated Visual, Audible, and Textual Notification
-  Uniform Messaging to Emergency Responders
-  Broadcast messaging – Radio, SMS, Internet, Intermodel Systems,

**Real World Terminal Scenarios**

## Challenges Involved

-  Who will manage and operate the facility’s mass notification system: police, fire, airport operations, others?
-  How do we assign the priority levels of potential events both emergency and no-emergency?
-  How do we reduce or eliminate false activations and the inconvenience caused to airport and airline operations?
-  What paging capabilities will the airlines have during the different types of events?
-  Are fire code variances required in order to interface the fire and other non-fire systems?

**Challenges Involved**

## Questions

**Questions**

## Contact Information

**Contact Information**

- Rajeev K. Arora, P.E.
- Executive Vice President
- T: (732) 602-6220
- F: (732) 602-6227
- rarora@aroraengineers.com
- Manik K. Arora, P.E.
- President and CEO
- T: (610) 459-7900
- F: (610) 459-7951
- marora@aroraengineers.com

- Gary Pollack
- Product Manager Mass Notification Systems
- T: (480) 507-7791
- F: (480) 507-7791
- gary.pollack@ge.com

- www.aroraengineers.com

- www.gesecurity.com

## Contact Information

**Internet Resources**
**UFC 4-010-01**
- http://www.wbdg.org/ccb/DOD/UFC/ufc_4_010_01.pdf
**UFC 4-021-01**
- http://www.wbdg.org/ccb/DOD/UFC/ufc_4_021_01.pdf