First Responders and Building Safety

Building owners and operators recognize their top priority is the safety of all those in or near their building. Healthy, safe, and secure building design and construction is a primary goal to prevent injuries and illnesses and to improve compliance with laws and regulations. Providing information about, access to, and control of a building system to first responders can improve crucial response times and save lives.

New technologies help first responders by giving them building information ahead of time. This can eliminate on-the-spot reconnaissance and decision-making, preventing a need to scramble to find people who know about a building and its systems. Crucial building information can be transferred to the first responders while they are en route and once they arrive. Staying connected during an emergency is critical, and smart buildings ensure there is the capability to communicate anywhere in the building during an event.

In this chapter...

What first responders need

Whether responding to a fire, medical emergency, or domestic threat, first responders must be able to maintain communications throughout the building and the property. It is imperative that they can communicate reliably and clearly, either using radios or smartphones. Buildings built with low-e glass have poor public-safety signal and cellular coverage, resulting from signal attenuation.

Traditionally, first responders have relied heavily on voice communications using Land Mobile Radios (LMRs) from dispatchers and others on site. Many larger departments are beginning to deploy smartphones and tablets in addition to or to replace these LMRs. In cases where departments cannot afford this new technology, individuals use their personal smart devices. These devices are used for navigation applications, dispatch information, incident command, and hazardous materials (hazmat) information.

The challenge is to maintain communication in difficult environments...

New safety requirements for the new normal

The pandemic, violent protests, and an increase in physical assaults are driving an increase in building access control systems in commercial office towers, schools and multifamily and residential environments. These systems are designed to control who has access to buildings to ensure the safety of the assets, occupants, and more. Safety may be defined in terms of the physical safety of a person or asset, or in terms of health by keeping viruses and diseases out of a building. These systems monitor traffic, improve traffic flow, prevent crimes, reduce fire risk, improve convenience, and can be integrated with other property technology. They can even lead to lower insurance premiums.

There are several governmental egress requirements and codes, both at the national and local levels. You are encouraged to understand the requirements for your particular jurisdiction before undertaking any project dealing with building access. Fire safety...

IoT smart building safety systems

Many people may not realize that a lot of the security, cameras, and accessibility systems deployed in buildings today already use IoT technology. Continued development of newer solutions helps smart buildings not only expand their security and accessibility capabilities within their premises but also integrate directly with smart, city-wide security programs.

Security and cameras

Earlier in this chapter, we covered building access control systems and visitor registration systems, two highly important parts of an overall building security system. Other security systems components can include security cameras and video surveillance inside and outside of a building. Sensors and door alarm systems can activate loud noises to deter criminal activity while it's in progress. Buildings need to have emergency and fire systems to meet code requirements. Commercial cybersecurity systems protect buildings’ networks and typically include antivirus...

Indoor air quality monitoring

The pandemic has drawn new attention to the health and safety impacts of indoor air quality. Occupants want to know that indoor air is clean and safe to reduce and prevent the spread of viruses. The return to buildings by workers will largely depend on the ability to mitigate the air quality and the willingness to communicate these actions and results to all stakeholders. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that individuals spend nearly 90% of their time indoors and that some pollutants are 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor levels and continue to rise with new construction materials and methods.

IAQ includes the air within and around the building and is typically tied to the health and comfort of the occupant. Concern for indoor air began long before the recent pandemic, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting that up to 30% of all buildings experienced poor IAQ in 1984. This was commonly referred to as Sick Building Syndrome...

Building communications network/broadcast/push messaging

Building occupants always expect Wi-Fi connectivity and cellular coverage throughout a building. They are not bound to their desks and offices and roam from space to space. Applications such as indoor navigation, coupled with teleconferencing, augmented/virtual reality, and data networks drive massive increases in bandwidth requirements. Low-powered IoT connectivity networks are needed to connect the explosion of sensors, actuators, controllers, and devices being added to buildings. These wired, wireless, and IoT/data networks must be integrated to deliver a converged network infrastructure in a smart building.

Many buildings have some sort of owner-installed, owner-controlled network in place, which traditionally is a wired broadband communication network with switches and electronics. Using wires, these networks connect critical yet siloed HVAC and security, fire, alarm, elevator, CCTV, and other systems. These buildings...

Summary

Having the capability for first responders to communicate in a building is critical for occupants and the responders themselves. Many standards and common IoT technology solutions have been implemented to ensure uniformity across localities. A new normal post-pandemic building environment is driving new requirements to build access, touchpoints, IAQ, and cleaning solutions, all of which are being solved with IoT smart building technologies.

The next chapter will explain how to enrich building data with location context to make a building smart. Space planning, indoor mapping, people counting and tracking, occupant engagement, asset tracking, and room and desk booking all benefit from location-based information.