Electrical Contracting News (ECN) July 2017 | Page 36

SPECIAL
FEATURE
When selecting
a beacon, room
coverage, flash
colour and current
consumption are the
key measures.
FIRE DETECTION & SAFETY
STANDARD ADVICE
Don’t fall behind on fire regulations – make sure you are up to date with the
latest EN54-23 product standard, says Neil Baldwin, sales director with ESP.
B
S EN54-23 stipulates
the requirements,
test methods and
performance criteria
for visual alarm
devices (VADs) in fire
detection and fire
alarm systems. In
order to comply, manufacturers now need
to present their products’ performance
data in a uniform manner so that they can
be directly compared and their suitability
assessed for particular applications.
EN54-23 gives an independent
assessment of a beacon’s performance
in the same way that EN53-3 does for
sounders. With this standard, systems
designers, risk assessors and installers
can assess what the requirement of a
beacon must be in order to deal with
a particular application and then have
36 | July 2017
confidence in choosing the right device for
the job. For example, compliant beacons
and sounder beacons are designed for
areas where people with hearing difficulties
may be alone, environments with high
levels of ambient noise, and areas with
restricted access.
The development of EN54-
23 required a fundamental
change in visible alarm
technology to ensure
that the light output
from warning beacons
is sufficiently bright
to attract attention.
EN54-23 allows for three
product classifications:
W (wall); C (ceiling);
and O (open). The key
performance indicators are
that the output of the device
must be greater than one candela (cd) and
less than 500cd; the flash rate must be
between 0.5 and 2.0Hz.
The critical requirement from a
manufacturer’s point of view is that
each model must be tested to
demonstrate compliance with
the standard’s requirements.
For ceiling mounted devices,
the manufacturer must
define the maximum
height at which it can
be installed, set by the
standard 3m, 6m, or 9m.
A wall mounted device
must be installed at a
minimum of 2.4m from
the floor in the same way
a sounder is today. The
coverage volume, defined
by the manufacturer, is that