MNEC 101 – Fire/Life Safety

Perspective
Agenda
• MNEC
– Why, What & When
• Codes
– UFC
– NFPA-72
• MNEC (ECS)
– The Parts and Pieces
• Audio Integrators
– Why Sell MNEC
– Selling Strategies
 Why MNEC

Boston Joplin, MO Aurora, CO

Virginia Tech Sandy Hook

Elementary School
 What is MNEC
It is both a communications AND emergency
management tool to provide real-time
instructions and information to building
occupants and visitors during an emergency event.
 When is MNEC Used?
 Weather emergency
 Medical emergency
 Security breach
 Public disturbance
 Act of terrorism
 Chemical release
 Fire
 Utility outage
Joplin
 When is MNEC used?
 Homeland Security  Market Interruption /
 Terrorist Threats Volatility
 Bioterrorism
 Inclement Weather
 Cyber Terrorism
 Hurricanes
 Public Health  Blizzards
 Tornadoes
 SARS  Flooding
 West Nile Virus  Earthquakes
 Swine Flu
 Life Safety
 Power Outages
 Regulatory Issues
 Cyber / Virus Events
 Result in System Losses  Water
 Trading / Pricing Systems  Contamination
 Electronic Banking  Loss of Pressure in High-
Transactions Rise Complexes
 Primary MNEC Function…
To notify people in a building, on a
campus or a geographic area about
an event …

 What is happening
 What to do
 Where to go
 When it is safe

Very Different Function of a Fire Alarm System

 MNEC “IS”
Internal
• Overhead Paging
• Signage

External
• Speakers
• “Giant Voice”
Wide-Area
• Text Messaging
• Paging
• Email
 Levels of MNEC….
 Tier 1
 Immediate & intrusive
 Sirens, indoor/outdoor
loudspeakers
 Fire voice evacuation
 Electronic signage
 Code compliant
 Tier 3
 Public alerting
 Sat/AM/FM radio broadcasts
 Sat/off-air TV broadcasts
 Location-specific
 text messages
Tier 2
 Personal alerting
 SMS Text (cell phones)
 Computer pop-ups
 Tone alert radios
 Email Broadcast (Internet)
 Automated voice dialing &
text messaging
Tier 4
 Locally relevant alerting
 Handheld bullhorns
 Radio cell phones
 Two-way radios
 MNEC is “NOT”

• Fire Alarm
• Fire Alarm is an
Input
• Mass Messaging
• Email
• SMS
• Textual Signage
• Paging System
 Codes – They are not scary
• Nomenclature:
– NFPA -72, UFC 04-021-01
– AHJ, ECS, EVACS
– STI, STIPPA
• History
– UFC Began the Code Changes for NFPA
• Codes
– UFC (Most of us do not need to worry about)
– NFPA-72
 How it Started…..
Secretary of
Defense, William
Cohen, issued
post-incident
report
6-25-96 7-31-97 12-16-99.

Terrorists act
- Khobar Antiterrorism/Force
Towers Protection
Housing Standards
Complex, developed by USAF
Dhahran,
Saudi Arabia
 How it Started The Air Force
petitioned NFPA
UFC 04-021-01
to develop MNS
Design and O&M: Mass standards
Notification Systems
requires combination The military found that
they could not use
voice fire alarm and approved fire alarm
mass notification systems for Mass
systems Notification while
remaining in full
Effectivity Date compliance with NFPA 72
5-29-02 Oct 2004 June 2003
UFC 04-010-01
Minimum
Antiterrorism
Standards for
Buildings
The initial
requirements for
Mass Notification
 How it Started

UL 2572
NFPA 72 – 2007 CONTROL AND NFPA 72 – 2010
Annex E COMMUNICATION
UNITS FOR MASS Chapter 12/25
NOTIFICATION
SYSTEMS
2007 October 2008 2010
Allow for the use of fire Coordination of the
alarm systems integrated functions of a mass
with other systems NEW Standards by notification system with
UL. For systems to those of a fire alarm
Provides guidance for the comply and provide system is essential in
application, installation, MNEC with Highest order to provide effective
location, performance, and priority. communication in an
maintenance of Mass
emergency situation.
Notification Systems
 Where it is Now

State, local and

municipal
building codes

2010 2012 2013

Local code officials have adopted the code for MNEC

quicker than any other major technology
 UFC Requirements
Unified Facility Criteria
An in-building mass notification system shall include one
or more of the following components:
(1) Autonomous control unit (ACU)
(2) Local operating console (LOC)
(3) Fire alarm control interface
(4) Notification appliance network
(5) Initiating devices
(6) Interface to other systems and alerting sources

These are the building blocks of MNEC

 NFPA Changes
National Fire Protection Association
– Requires Mass Notification to be part of fire alarm/life safety system.
– Permits a mass notification control unit to take control of fire alarm notification
appliances including amplifiers, speakers, and strobes.
– MNEC has highest priority over fire alarm.
– Will require a MNEC voice message any time the priority is granted to the
mass notification control unit.
– Strobes used for dual purposes shall not be marked ‘FIRE’, strobes to be blank
or ‘ALERT’.
– Dedicated MNEC strobes shall be AMBER and ALERT wording.
– Operation of MNS system is based on the emergency response plan.
– Intelligibility of voice messages are required to meet the requirements of
chapter 7 (notification).
– Visual notification to be completed through strobes, textual, graphic or video
displays.
Mass Notification Emergency Communication
 Control Servers
Inputs TTS1

MS1
End of Line
Device
Remote
Control Outputs Ambient Noise
Main LOC Compensation
ACU

802.3.af
Standard PoE
Secure Network
Infrastructure Outputs
LOC: Local (‘the world’)
Operation
console

Inputs

Ancillary Features:
Logging, Scheduler, Universe-wide Paging, Life Safety Interface
3rd Party Interface, VoIP
 ACU: Autonomous Control Unit
• Supervises the entire ECS
• Interfaces with Inputs and Outputs
• The “brain” of MNEC
• Requires redundancy
• 8 Simultaneous Messages sent
• UL 2572 Approved
• Controls all Inputs and Outputs for
Emergency Communication
Local Operating Consoles
LOC

Placed in areas that have the ability to send

Emergency Messages
 Ambient Noise Control
• Surface mount, networked appliance
•Controls volume of channel, group or cluster
• 2 microphone inputs
• Multiple parameter adjustments in GUI
• Independent mic gain controls
• Threshold (with capture), max. and min.
compensation
• Ramp times, ratio and weighting

Adjusts loudspeaker volume to compensate

for variations in ambient noise
 Message Server
Facilitates global messaging functions
•Messaging – storage and playback (8 simultaneous)
• System configuration – storage and service
• Inter-world paging
• Event scheduling
• System event logging
• Remote 3rd party control via Ethernet (‘ETAP’)
•3 network ports – CobraNet, Control and VoIP
• Signage Integration
 Text To Speech Server

•Runs embedded Text-to-Speech Engine (Nuance)

• Configured in GUI - text entry in Windows Client
• Up to 40 high quality voice fonts (languages)
 Life Safety Interface
LSI Monitored Parallel
Parallel Control Inputs
Control Outputs to
from Fire detection
Lamps and Sounders
System and Switches
Standards Compliant Control Outputs via
Control Inputs via Fault and Alarm RS232 or Ethernet
RS232 or Ethernet Indicators on Panel (TCP/IP) for future
(TCP/IP) for future interconnect flexibility
interconnect flexibility

Interfaces to an emergency or fire

detection system in order to meet voice
evacuation requirements.
 End of Line Device
Verifies the integrity of speaker cables between
ACU and End of Line (EOL)

•Supervision of Audio Notification Circuit Required

•Multi-tone ultrasonic testing, FFT based
•Applicable to 100V, 70V and low Z speaker lines
•Not reliant on speaker line for powering
Fire Alarm Integration Example
Emergency mode LOC

LSI Pre-recorded
messages from the
ACU or live pages
from the LOC go to:
ACU - 1
Disabled Building 1

Disabled Disabled
ACU - 2
Building 2
Disabled
ACU -3
Disabled Building 3
 Fire, Life Safety & Audio Integrators Involvement
• Vision – What is the ultimate goal of the
customer?
• Functionality – What is the Emergency
Response Plan?
• Ease of Use – How will the ECS be used in
Emergencies
• Business Continuity – How does the ECS help
with day to day efficiency?
• Liability – How does MNEC make the customer
compliant?
• Perception – Means everything
Target Applications
Corporate Hospitality
Recreation Education
Retail Healthcare
Transportation Government
The Key MNEC Issues …
 Any message, to any device,
anywhere
 Open standards is essential
 Integrate and interface systems
 Create situational awareness
 Create full interoperability
 Test as frequently as practical
with local, state & federal
responders
NSCA members are the
EXPERTS!
 Intelligible Audio IS what Audio
Integrators do
 STI is something you understand
 Business Continuity through
audio
 Sound Masking – If you can
make sound go away, you are
uniquely suited to provide quality
sound
 Sound Re-Enforcement –
Another word for Intelligible Audio
Why MNEC Is So Important
C-Level

Code
Litigation
Perception
 Vision - Perception
• Customer/User
• Potentials
• Employee/Staff
• Community
• Competitors
 Vision - Litigation
Physical threats such as local, regional or terrorist-related
disasters can severely threaten a company's bottom line.
 Virginia Tech (Clery Act)
 More Security Issues = Higher Liability
 Employees, visitors, all personnel
 MNEC bring credibility to safety
efforts
 Functionality - Code

Survivability Monitoring
•No Single Point of Fire Alarms are
Failure Monitored and verified
•Auto-Fail Over to be working as will
Mass Notification
Devices
 Speech Transmission Index (STI)

Talker

Room Noise

Reverberation Background

Listener
Adapted from
Ingenieurbüro Michael
Creydt
 STI Chart Comparison

STI <0.3 <0.45 <0.6 <0.75 <1.0

Intelligibility Very bad bad Acceptable Good Very good

Minimum
Per
NFPA
Adapted from
Ingenieurbüro Michael
Creydt
Functionality - Intelligibility
 Ease of Use –
Emergency Response Plan
• Build System to ERP
• Know what an ERP is.
• Partner with those
who create ERP’s.
• One Touch Operation
• Automated Operation
 Business Continuity
Day to Day Operations
• Mass Messaging
• Scheduled Messages
– Bells, Prayers, Shift
Change
• Process Management
– Manufacturing, etc.
• Use the SMART
Phone
 Next Steps
• Information
– Codes Adopted in your
Marketplace
– A&Es who can use your expertise
– Who is doing MNEC in your area
now?
– Product
– What product will you use?
– Look for Notification Product
– Wheelock, American Signal
– Integration Avenues
– Software (RAVE, REACT)
– ASK THE QUESTION!
References
Gray, A. (2009). Khobar Towers Attack Proved Need For Mass Notification. Retrieved on October 6th, 2011 from
Web Site: www.mnec.org/articles
Department of Defense. (2008). Unified Facility Criteria (UFC), Design and O&M: Mass Notification Systems,
Department of Defense, Washington DC
Mayfield, T. (2010). Security on an Education Campus, Presented July 2010, AMAG Architect and Engineer
Consortium, Florida
Moore, W. D. (2007). Mass Notification Systems: Design Challenges for the FPE. SFPE Fire Protection
Engineering, 1
National Fire Protection Association. (2012). NFPA 1 Fire Code 2012. Quincy Massachusetts: National Fire
Protection Association.
National Fire Protection Association, (2013). NFPA 72 National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, Quincy
Massachusetts: National Fire Protection Association.
National Fire Protection Association, (2012). NFPA 101 Life Safety Code, Quincy Massachusetts: National Fire
Protection Association.
Newsweek, (1996). A Bomb and 3 Minutes’ Warning, Newsweek, 128(2), 24 Retrieved on October 6th, 2011 from
EBSOCO web site:
http://libproxy.eku.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9607027773&s
ite=ehost-live&scope=site
NSCA. (2010). History and Development of the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code (NFPA 72). Retrieved
September 9, 2010 from MNEC web site: http://www.mnec.org/history.html
Biamp Systems. (2010). Vochia Simplified. Oregon: Biamp Systems
UTC – EST. (2010). Mass Notification. Sarasota, Florida: EST Systems
Questions?
 For Further Information

• Chuck Wilson
• P) 319-366-6722
• E) cwilson@nsca.org
• www.mnec.org.