Priority 1 Campus Safety

Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM

During its 50-year history, the University of San Diego (USD) has grown from a local college with 50 students and a handful of professors to a nationally ranked university. Today, the 7,500 students attending the university are not the only ones getting an education. The school's Department of Public Safety, which operates around-the-clock and year-round, continually educates its staff of 33 on aspects of campus safety and preparedness. For them, the department's mission, “Safety through Education,” is a way of life.

“Today, life-safety and property protection are an absolute top priority,” says Roger Manion, the university's assistant vice president of facilities. “More than ever, technology is helping to drive the move toward efficiency and improved campus safety through fire protection, security and early notification.”

USD has worked in tandem with SimplexGrinnell, a provider of fire and life-safety systems, for more than 18 years. Originally called upon in the late 1980s to help link various safety systems and campus buildings, SimplexGrinnell now provides fire and security systems for the entire campus. The company also keeps campus personnel trained on how to use the systems effectively.

Before solidifying its relationship with SimplexGrinnell, known at the time as Simplex, the university had used a hodgepodge of life-safety systems that lacked functionality and efficiency. University leaders found in SimplexGrinnell a single-source life-safety solutions provider that could maintain the life-safety systems on campus, understand evolving technology and keep everything current and in operating order.

Today, 25 campus buildings are protected by Simplex 4100U fire alarm systems. SimplexGrinnell has also installed integrated security systems and software upgrades for all university buildings, and is in the process of adding advanced graphical interface capability.

The Simplex 4100U is a fire detection and alarm platform that uses color graphics for easy incident and location recognition and also provides addressable fire detection and notification. The Simplex addressable technology helps to enhance response time because university personnel can identify any campus building visually on the screen.

The system offers pinpoint addressability with its notification and initiation devices and allows as many as 15 horns on any one system, which can result in faster and easier testing and maintenance and requires less wire and manpower during installation.

In addition, SimplexGrinnell is in the process of retrofitting existing fire alarm panels with Simplex SafeLINC — an Internet-based communications link that enables authorized users to use a Web browser to check the status of the system from off-site locations.

The latest life-safety project for SimplexGrinnell involves the installation of fire and security systems at USD's new 84,000-square-foot School of Leadership and Education Sciences building. Recently, the university implemented a campus emergency notification system to provide early warning communications via cell phones, text messaging and all computers on campus.

Because the Simplex 4100U fire alarm system has voice capability and built-in survivability that make it suitable for mass notification, the university is considering the possibility of installing speakers in the new Education Sciences building to provide both fire alarm and emergency notification. The Simplex 4100U voice-enabled system can provide a reliable, economical solution to meet campus fire alarm and mass notification needs in existing buildings and new construction.

At USD, the commitment to enhanced safety and preparedness also extends to student housing. Plans are in the works to improve fire detection and alarm and sprinkler systems in the university's dormitories, which house more than 2,700 students. Also, an addition is planned for the university's 25-year-old School of Business Administration building, with SimplexGrinnell already mapping out modifications and/or add-ons that include advanced fire detection, sprinklers, security and intrusion detection.

SimplexGrinnell is also assisting the university in updating emergency preparedness manuals to help ensure that proper procedures are in place and clearly understood. SimplexGrinnell also provides university maintenance personnel with ongoing training in both software and field installation, and makes its Web-training site available as well. Periodic on-site training is also provided for existing and new equipment.

“SimplexGrinnell has made a powerful investment in this university,” Manion says. “Not only through the support for its products, but in the training of our people and even in conducting beta site testing at USD to help develop better and more efficient life-safety systems.”

Manion points to SimplexGrinnell's philosophy of forward/backward compatibility — designing products so that older systems can easily be migrated to next generation technology platforms. This approach makes the migration to more advanced technology far more cost effective.

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

This month in Access Control

• Opening Up About Door Closers
• An Enterprise Approach
• The Framework For Open Systems
• On A Higher Plane
• More from April's issue