Fire Protection in Retail, Leisure & Entertainment Sites
Fire safety equipment in dynamic retail, leisure, and entertainment settings must be versatile, reliable but also discreet. Vladimir Zrnic, Regional Sales Manager for Europe at Advanced, outlines some important considerations when choosing the right fire safety solutions for these demanding settings.
Avoiding false alarm harm
In leisure and retail venues, false fire alarms can be particularly unwelcome, disturbing people’s precious downtime, disrupting purchases and harming business reputations.
Effective management requires advanced detectors and fire panels capable of flexible alarm verification and investigation delays.
In hotels for example, automated verification timers can distinguish false alarms caused by shower steam or smoking from real emergencies. In theatres, multisensors and specialised modes can avoid unnecessary evacuations due to theatrical effects like dry ice smoke, ensuring safety and smooth operational continuity.
Safe, phased evacuation
Safe evacuation in large venues like shopping centres and hotels relies on effective cause-and-effect programming alongside the latest sounder or voice alarm integration to facilitate the evacuation of those most at risk during a fire.
Selecting a fire panel brand with sophisticated cause-and-effect capabilities is crucial for effectively managing evacuations during dynamic fire conditions and reacting to the spread of fire and smoke through multiple areas simultaneously.
Out of sight
Aesthetics are crucial for integrating fire safety equipment seamlessly into retail and leisure interiors.
Designer repeater panels with flush touchscreens look more attractive than standard fire panels but still provide full functionality during fires. Alternatively,custom finishes are available to help panels blend with the décor or branding, and colour-coordinated or low-profile detectors also help improve the look of fire safety equipment. Some fire systems also allow control of LED blinking to minimise distractions in venues like cinemas and hotels.
Style and safety assured
Layout changes are frequent in some retail settings, so using scalable wireless systems is a wise option. Cable-free fire equipment is flexible and saves on installation costs, plus, EN54-13 compliant fire panels ensure continuous monitoring and fault detection, promptly alerting staff to hidden issues for timely resolution.
Clear communication
Larger venues can complicate emergency navigation, potentially delaying responses. Some manufacturers, such as Advanced, offer custom solutions such as digital mimics with colour-coded LEDs for simplified fire location identification.
In modern buildings, seamless integration of fire and building management systems is crucial for safety and efficiency. Advanced’s technologies, for example, streamline setup and save time by using a common industry protocol. This allows the creation of a system that consolidates data from multiple sources for monitoring via a single central location/PC or the Cloud.
In summary, choosing the right fire protection equipment for retail and leisure venues isn’t straightforward. However, checking that a manufacturer’s product range offers robust solutions to the common challenges outlined above is a great way of ensuring fire safety for retail and leisure venues and peace of mind for those enjoying them.
To find out more about the features mentioned in this article, please visit advancedco.com or contact Vladimir Zrnic vzrnic@advancedco.com or call +44 (0)345 894 7000.
