This self-paced online course covers the operational requirements for visible and audible notification appliances. This includes the application and use of lights, horns, bells, and other fire alarm notification appliances used to alert building occupants, fire brigade members, and others of a fire or other condition that requires action.

Upon completion you should be able to:

• Define key terms, including decibels (dBA), effective intensity, illumination, audible, tactile, visible
• Describe and distinguish between public mode signaling and private mode signaling
• List the requirements for wall mounting audible and visible appliances
• List applications that may be suitable for ceiling mounted appliances
• Determine the required sound output level of an audible notification appliance
• Explain direct and indirect viewing
• Describe the Temporal - 3 pattern
• Explain when synchronization of appliances is required

Who Will Benefit

Anyone whose job involves designing, reviewing, evaluating or installing fire protection systems, including: designers, installers, engineers, electrical contractors, technicians, project managers, fire marshals, and architects

Course Summary

• A fire alarm notification appliance is any fire alarm system component that provides an audible, visible or tactile output from the fire alarm system.
• The entire purpose of fire alarm notification appliances is to "notify" someone that a condition requiring action exists.
• Notification can be classified as either public mode or private mode. Public mode notification is intended to alert all occupants of the building. Private mode notification is intended to alert only selected individuals that action is required.
• When public mode signaling is used to alert occupants to evacuate a building, the ANSI Audible Emergency Evacuation Signal should be used. This signal is a three-pulse temporal pattern that may be reproduced by any type of bell, horn, speaker, or other notification appliance.
• The sound produced by the fire alarm system when operating in the public mode must produce a minimum sound pressure level of 15 dBA above the average ambient sound level in the area or 5 dBA above the maximum sound level that lasts 60 seconds or more, whichever is greater.
• Fire alarm systems may also use visible fire alarm notification appliances. They are most often used to supplement the audible appliances, where ambient sound levels are too high to hear the audible appliances, where hearing-impaired individual may be located, or where required by other codes and standards.
• Where visible notification appliances are used for public mode notification there is a minimum flash rate (1 per second) and a maximum flash rate (2 per second).