ESSER Systems

Evacuation possibilities become increasingly more important

When hotel fires are reported on in the media, deaths of victims are usually being mourned. This type of terrible news illustrates how important it is to take preventive measures in order to avoid such disasters. From the small privately-run hotel up to the major hotel, the operator would like to offer his guests not only a pleasant ambience but also the necessary safety. That’s why a well thought-out safety concept now belongs to the standard high-quality features of a hotel. Studies have particularly proven the ability for a fast evacuation has become increasingly more important in this context.

When implementing a security concept in large hotels, it must be taken into consideration that in the case of a fire, the personnel can often not give the proper instructions necessary for an optimal evacuation. The hotel guest, who is the primary concern of protection, is almost exclusively dependent on a controlled evacuation through the rescue teams on site. The spatial factors with their different safety concerns often differ considerably and thus require elaborate fire protection concepts which are customised to the object. It is not often that such an elaborate alarm reaction is triggered during a fire. The basis for such a conception is mostly implemented with an installation tailored especially to the different safety concerns, based on a modern loop which – if possible – facilitates the authorized and certified operation of addressable and bus-supplied alarm signalling devices together with fire detectors and other bus devices. Aside from the safety aspects, these fire detectors display their advantages, which offer easy installation during mounting and which stand out by keeping installation and maintenance costs as low as possible. Minimal operating costs of the entire fire alarm system are an additional advantage for the operator.

Fire detection and evacuation at the same time
With 4000 hotels in more than 100 countries, the French ACCOR Group is of one of the largest hotel enterprises worldwide and has trusted new technology of the IQ8Quad detector from ESSER as a fire protection system since 2006. The criterion for their choice was the detecting process used by the detector. According to Franck Freitag, the head of the hotel technology department, an essential requirement for the fire detectors is a false alarm rate as low as possible: they must be able to reliably distinguish disturbance variables from fire smoke. Statistical results prove that half of the fire brigade deployments registered in Germany are ordered due to false alarms. If one thinks of the follow-up costs that arise e.g. during the evacuation of a hotel, it quickly becomes clear that a hotel operator who has previously lived through such a scenario due to a false alarm can therefore value an investment in technical fire protection.
Disturbance variables such as vapour from shower cubicles will no longer lead to unnecessary fire brigade deployments in the hotels of the ACCOR Group. Another decisive factor in addition to the low false alarm rate is the fulfilment of international standards. Especially guests from the USA frequently make inquiries before they start their travels as to whether the selected hotel has adequate safety devices (according to the EU standards and sometimes their booking is dependent on that. In emergency situations, the fire detectors used should support an evacuation with special multilingual voice announcements, as it is known that signalling to the guests using only sirens does not generally evoke any reaction. There are tailor-made solutions for this area of application as well. The patented IQ8Quad multisensor detector is not only a fire detector, it is an optical and acoustic signaller as well as a supporting aid for a faster evacuation – thanks to its speech function. It is equipped with four functions in one single housing and does not occupy more space than common fire detectors. Only one device need now be installed where up to three used to be necessary. Being the first detector with integrated acoustic signalling device, flasher, and speech output worldwide, it offers the optional advantage of initiating the evacuation simultaneously with the alarm. 

The O²T detector model is able to generate five different multilingual speech announcements. This can be of utmost importance for hotels accommodating international guests. Triggered through certain events (e.g. fire alarm), messages can be announced either in the entire building or only in certain areas. This not only allows for a large amount of flexibility but also for controlling a systematic evacuation within a given time. The architectural variety of some hotels additionally demands flexible system components which can also be used wirelessly, if structural or aesthetic reasons necessitate this. Since the IQ8Quad O2T can be installed without cable feed in the building as a wireless detector in accordance with the current norms and guidelines, it fulfils all the aesthetic demands even in historically-protected buildings. A wireless detector model was used in the Brunswick Mercure Hotel on an elaborate ceiling construction made out of wood and glass during the hall installation; this enabled structural interventions to be avoided. Currently, a large number of hotels all over the world trust in this proven product by the technology leaders, among them such renowned names as Hilton, Interkonti, Savoy and Ritz-Carlton.

Speech instructions speed up evacuation
It is the purpose of an emergency alarm to draw people’s attention to dangerous situations and to evacuate the danger zone as quickly as possible. Both the alarm as well as the information about potential dangers are more effective via spoken text than through the production of a defined tone. While people often react only hesitantly to abstract alarm sounds or to solely optical alarm signals in an emergency, they act quickly and correctly if they can follow clear speech instructions.
However, speech-capable fire detectors also have their limits, particularly when a speech alarm system (SAS) is required by construction law guidelines or the possibility of live announcements is required. Through new and changed standards, SAS will gain significantly in quality in the near future. A strong integration with fire detection technology can already be seen. Future developments will change the traditional properties of SAS in this field and drive forward their integration.

Aside from the sometimes quite complex project planning of fire protection technical installations, special limiting conditions often need to be considered as well. Thus design wishes must frequently be taken into consideration, as for example in the Schlosshotel Münchhausen in Hameln, where colour-adjusted detectors were needed in the historical knight hall in order to guarantee the discreetness of the installation. In many hotels, further security relevant disciplines exist additionally to fire detection technology. In the Herriot's in Frankfurt/Main, for example, the intrusion alarm technology, admission control and video technology are centrally visualized on a superordinate management system. In this way, Physically disabled persons, for example the seeing or walking-impaired, could already be registered while checking in, in order to have the appropriate help provided in an emergency situation.

Downloads 

• Integrated_fire_protection_concepts_for_hotels_-_ESSER_by_Honeywell_December_2008.doc