Fire Protection Design Manual - Office of Construction and Facilities ...

September-2011
Note: The SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering provides guidance on the
placement of audible notification appliances.
1) Do not locate audible notification appliances within surgical operating rooms.
However, ensure that the temporal three signal can be heard within all surgical
operating rooms.
2) Provide subdued audible notification appliances in critical care areas.
l. Provide visible notification appliances in the following areas:
Note: Strobes are activated only in the zone of alarm origin. Strobes in areas outside of the
zone of alarm origin provide no help to staff to identify the location to which they are to
respond. Strobes are to be located to assist staff to react immediately without having to
interpret the signal. That is, if staff see that the strobes are activated then staff know that
they are within the zone of alarm origin.
1) Spaces subject to noise, such as mechanical equipment rooms, where the
message delivered by the audible appliance might not be heard or might be
unintelligible.
2) Audiometric booths (not required if the light from the appliance can be seen
from within the booth.)
3) Public restrooms.
4) Public accessible areas of the building such as corridors, auditoriums, cafeterias,
open assembly rooms >= 750 ft 2 , canteens, retail stores, etc. Exception: Visible
notification appliances are not required in the following spaces which are not
considered to be public accessible:
a) Individual office spaces unless the space is known to have a hearing
impaired person stationed there.
b) Closets (janitor’s, clothes, etc.)
c) Utility shafts.
d) Crawl spaces.
e) Normally unoccupied rooms