PUBLIC ADDRESS & VOICE EVACUATION SYSTEM

A public address and voice alarm (PA/VA, commonly PAVA) system tells occupants what to do rather than simply sounding an alarm. On a fire signal it broadcasts a pre-recorded evacuation message to the affected zones and an alert message to the rest of the building, and it allows a marshal or firefighter to take a microphone and give live instructions to any zone.

Voice evacuation is increasingly required by the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence code for buildings above a certain size and occupancy, and is the standard approach wherever a phased or staged evacuation is planned — schools, hospitals, terminals, malls, hotels and large residential and mixed-use developments.

Scope of work

Loudspeaker layout designed for speech intelligibility across every acoustic environment — ceiling, wall, column and horn units selected by area
Zoning and message plans aligned with the building’s fire strategy and phased evacuation sequence
Integration with the fire alarm control panel, so detection drives the correct message in the correct zone
Monitored amplification and battery-backed power supplies, with redundancy so a single failure does not silence a zone
Alarm and paging microphones at the fire control point, plus firefighter intercom stations
Background music and general announcement use on the same infrastructure where required
Testing, commissioning and handover, then scheduled maintenance under the same preventive maintenance contract as the fire alarm system

Equipment supplied

Ceiling and wall mounted loudspeakers
Amplifiers, system controllers and monitored power supplies
Alarm and paging microphones
Fire telephone jacks and firefighter intercom stations

Licensing and maintenance

Voice evacuation is one of the sub-systems named on STARCO’s Abu Dhabi Civil Defence licence, alongside fire detection and alarm, emergency lighting and emergency exit signage. PAVA systems are covered by the same preventive maintenance package as intelligent addressable and conventional fire alarm systems, with a certificate of testing issued on completion.

Design and estimation are carried out in house — STARCO’s design team works on public address and voice evacuation alongside fire alarm, VESDA and central battery emergency and exit lighting systems.

STARCO installs EN 54 compliant voice alarm equipment. See the pAudio voice alarm range we supply.