There is currently great uncertainty surrounding the Current standard situation for voice alarm systems in particular with regard to the Standard EN 54-16. The purpose of this article is to explain the content of this standard and the interaction of the standards for voice alarm systems.
The most important standard in connection with voice alarm systems and evacuation systems is the DIN EN 60849, Electroacoustic emergency warning systems. This standard is a System standard and defines the performance requirements for electro-acoustic emergency warning systems so that a 100% availability and operational reliability is guaranteed.
The DIN VDE 0833-4, Alarm systems for fire, burglary and hold-up - Part 4: Specifications for voice alarm systems in the event of fireis a Application standard. It describes all phases for the installation and operation of voice alarm systems from concept, planning and project planning, installation, commissioning, acceptance and operation through to maintenance.
The standard DIN EN 54-16, Fire alarm systems - Part 16: Voice alarm control panelsis a pure Product standard. It describes which requirements each individual component in an electro-acoustic emergency warning system must fulfil in accordance with DIN EN 60849 and specifies the associated test procedures.
The two product standards DIN EN 54-4 and DIN EN 54-24 define the requirements, performance characteristics and test methods for components in the areas of power supply units and loudspeakers.
As the System standard DIN EN 60849 guarantees unrestricted availability and operational safety for evacuation systems in an emergency, it is the Most important standard. All decisive requirements for Functional safety are defined in this standard. It goes without saying that our DS-6 system is certified in accordance with this standard.
The Certification of entire evacuation systems in accordance with DIN EN 54-16 on the other hand, is so fundamentally not possible. It can only individual components or small system parts can be certified, but the entire system cannot. For example, the cabling underneath the individual components, which is part of the overall system, is difficult to certify in accordance with DIN EN 54-16 due to EMC problems. The cabling must be EMC-protected. However, this is only possible with small, compact system units that are located in an EMC-resistant housing. This of course means that the flexibility that is important to us in our system solutions is lost.
Our Core devices of the DS-6 system are of course also certified according to DIN EN 54-16. The TÜV Rheinland tests are currently underway.
