Is voice evac required in schools nowadays?

All the schools I went to didn’t have it. Is it now required in schools?

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I believe all new high occupancy schools require it, can someone confirm?

But your school probably were grandfathered and follow the code when the system was put in. However if a large amount of work is done on the system, or if they replace it entirely, then they must follow the current codes.

Really? I went to several schools all built recently, not to mention I went to a brand new elementary school built in 2010 for grades 4-6 from 2010-2013 and it had EST Genesis G1W-HD horn/strobes (without fire lettering) in every single classroom. EST 3 panel, no smokes, building had sprinklers. Not kidding either. It was ungodly loud whenever we had a drill and the ones in the hallways were spaced only like every few feet or so so you’d have about 4 or five per corridor. Yeah. It was painful and so loud the alarms were clearly audible outside after everyone had evacuated, with all doors/windows closed too. My current high school after moving to a different state and different district is 65 years old and has 9838s on 2903 strobe plates. Can hardly hear it from the outside to put it in perspective.

This is the first time I have ever heard of it but I guess it would make sense based on what I have seen over here. My elementary school which for main alarms had -9219 horns on continuous. In 2013, they renovated so that they have SpectrAlert Advance Speaker/Strobes EVERYWHERE including 2 speakers and one strobe in the L-shaped rooms.

Though if this is true, what would horn/strobes be used for if they aren’t used in schools or apartments anymore?

Restaurants and stores that aren’t large enough as to require voice evac would have horn/strobes.

That is, if they have signals in them at all. Here in SA, many restaurants don’t have an apparent fire alarm system.

What would high occupancy mean? I go to a relatively small high school where I live with at most 1,000 students, compared to the county school district in Indiana (where I used to live before moving to Ohio) that had about 2,300 students (they also had horn strobes; Siemens U-MHU-MCSs).

I don’t think when they build the new building (high school and new elementary school in another part of he district (construction begins in 2018 for the high school) they will have speaker/strobes. It is possible because most new buildings in my area have Simplex systems (even the current high school has one but it’s obviously older), so it’s highly likely a Simplex system will be put in the new school, probably a 4100ES or a 4010ES since the 4020 is long since discontinued (the current building has a 2 bay 4020). Horn strobes are likely but since the 4100ES is voice capable, who knows.

Yes, at least in Massachusetts IIRC, voice fire alarm systems are required in schools nowadays.
However, I have no idea why my last 2 schools had a voice system that did not play any messages, just Code-3 tones.

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Same here. Not many restaurants in my area have fire alarm systems. Golden Corral and Olive Garden are exceptions.

Hahah my place is the exact opposite. Literally every building has to have a system and every restaurant I’ve been to has one. Even Starbucks and McDonald’s

This was added in IBC 2012:

[F] 907.2.3 Group E. A manual fire alarm system that initiates the occupant notification signal utilizing an emergency voice/alarm communication system meeting the requirements of Section 907.5.2.2 and installed in accordance with Section 907.6 shall be installed in Group E occupancies.

Group E = educational occupancy, or schools. This section of the code mandates any schools built under IBC 2012 or newer have voice systems.

Now the major city I currently work in has only adopted IBC 2009, so depending on where you are it may or may not be a requirement yet. This also only applies to new construction (or massive renovations), and even if the building is built in 2017 in a city with 2012 codes adopted, if the plans were approved in 2010 under 2009 codes it’s still valid to not have a voice system. And that, is the fun with building codes…

After doing some brief five minute research it looks like the majority of states have adapted IBC 2012 (Minnesota included), and it looks like in Minnesota it’s enforced pretty strictly. Now, since my district is currently in the process of building a new high school slated to open in 2019, that should mean it will have a voice-evacuation system, correct?

Its gonna be pretty weird thinking of schools with only voice evacuation since for so long I’ve only known them to have horns. Well I guess its good for people who are afraid of fire alarms then.

Yes, chris+s said it better than I could. We’ve been talking about it at my office as something to look forward to, as almost all the jurisdictions we work in have not yet adopted the codes that mandate it. Voice evac systems are more sophisticated to engineer and install, and considerably more expensive. I doubt many schools will upgrade or install them in new construction until it is mandatory.

I believe the shift is primarily about putting mass notification in schools, to be able to communicate clearly in an emergency, especially in the crazed attacks and shootings we are sadly seeing more of.

Thats because some kid burns my dark roast. Its a dark roast, not a charred roast!

rolls eyes dramatically

My area doesn’t have much voice evac. There’s only one highshool here that has a voice evac system.

Same, but while on vacation here in Colorado I’ve seen my fair share of places with voice evac everywhere, and actually in a Starbucks. Back home it’s mostly horn strobes unless it fits into a category of building requiring voice evac (heck, even the airport back home has horn strobes)!

High schools around here don’t have any voice evacuation. The OBC says it’s needed for buildings with over 1000 people, but I know of a high school that went up in 2013 with a Simplex system and it’s not voice evac.

A Starbucks had voice evac? That’s strange, considering how small Starbucks buildings are.