Is a Tornado Siren/ PA System a good idea?
Hi All,
We are currently building a new building. We manufacture granola and repackaged baked goods. We are working on our first SQF Certification.
I have worked in large corporations- never in a relatively small company. I have always seen either a PA system &/or fire sirens.
I have recently discussed putting tornado sirens or a PA system in the new building- there is nothing audit wise that specifics what we should do. I feel like we are continually growing and we should put the system in now while building rather than later.
My boss felt like having a text would be enough or the local sirens. I do not feel like that is the best system and need input of what other industries do or any information to convince the team other wise.
Thank you
Hi All,
We are currently building a new building. We manufacture granola and repackaged baked goods. We are working on our first SQF Certification.
I have worked in large corporations- never in a relatively small company. I have always seen either a PA system &/or fire sirens.
I have recently discussed putting tornado sirens or a PA system in the new building- there is nothing audit wise that specifics what we should do. I feel like we are continually growing and we should put the system in now while building rather than later.
My boss felt like having a text would be enough or the local sirens. I do not feel like that is the best system and need input of what other industries do or any information to convince the team other wise.
Thank you
I would put a PA in over a text board - not everyone can read those things and from what I have seen they can easily become a hazard (foreign material inclusion comes to mind.)
From an audit standpoint the Auditor will simply be looking at it as part of everything else in the building, for cleaning, condition, etc.
I'd skip the sirens and use the PA for everything unless you want to cause issues with sharp blaring in an environment that may be noisey (or not) already.
Can you hear the local sirens - we can't in our building. We have the weather radios in multiple different places. We have a tornado policy in place and signs telling people where they need to go in case of a tornado. Do you use radios? We have multiple channels. During a tornado or other event (fire, flood, etc) - we all tune into a certain channel. We also have who can be talking on said channel to keep communication lines open.
Whatever is specifically called out in procedure or your Crisis Management Plan needs to be in place as long as it is adequate. More as a safety issue, we had a stand alone system installed for weather emergencies consisting of several sounders with amber flashing lights at the ceiling of each room, battery back up system and activators in 3 locations (it's just what worked for us). In a weather emergency or drill, we just push the button and the lights and sounders go off until we push the button again. This is not a system monitored by emergency response. It's also included in our Emergency Preparedness procedure. Our Fire Emergency lights and sounders are linked to our monitoring system. I agree with you though, PA systems run on electricity and can't be relied upon in weather (or fire) emergencies and about 20% of our employees don't have a phone and 100% are not allowed to have them in production areas. I'd suggest you do it now as the installation will likely be faster and cheaper in a new construction project