Voice evacuation and emergency lighting: what gets people out

In short

Research by the National Research Council of Canada found that a fire alarm signal by itself is usually not enough to make people leave a building. They may not recognize it, may have stopped trusting it after false alarms, or may not hear it. Voice messages work better: people tend to follow spoken instructions straight away. A good message says what the problem is, where it is and what to do. The standards then set how loud and how intelligible the warning must be. Emergency lighting has to keep the escape routes lit when the power fails; since 2024, the European standard asks for light across the whole width of the route, not just along its center line.

Why a siren is not enough

• Three reasons. Guylène Proulx of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) found three reasons people ignore fire alarms: they don't recognize the signal as a fire alarm, they have lost confidence in it because of nuisance alarms, or they can't hear it.
• People don't know the sound. In interviews cited by Proulx, over 45% of a small sample of occupants could not tell a fire alarm from other alarms.
• People don't believe it. In NRC evacuation studies in mid-rise residential buildings, fewer than 25% of occupants took the alarm as a sign of a possible real emergency.
• The conclusion. "Research findings show that a fire alarm signal by itself is usually not sufficient to initiate occupant evacuation from buildings."
• The same view in the UK. Government fire safety guidance notes that members of the public "do not always react quickly to a conventional fire alarm", and that this is why voice alarms are becoming popular.

What a voice message changes

• According to Proulx, a voice communication system is "one of the best ways to ensure immediate reaction by occupants"; people "tend to immediately obey instructions" given through it.
• In residential evacuations, the delay before people started to move was three-quarters of the total evacuation time.
• In one case study in an underground station, some passengers were still waiting for their train 15 minutes after the fire alarm sounded. When the alarm was paired with voice messages, the station was cleared in just over five minutes.
• The European guidance on voice alarm systems, CEN/TS 54-32, gives the same reason for them: the meaning of an alarm tone may not be clear to untrained people, who then lose time deciding what it means and what to do.

What a good message says

• Three essentials. Proulx: the problem, where it is, and what to do.

• Five topics. NIST's 2014 guidance lists who is speaking, what to do, when to act, where the emergency is and why. It notes that what to do and why matter most.

• Specific, not generic. Proulx found that general pre-recorded messages were "ineffective and even dangerous" when they could not help people find the nearest exit. NIST adds that generic recorded messages leave people "wanting and needing further information" before they act.

• Russian rules, 2026. Russia's new code for warning and evacuation systems, SP 3.13130.2026, requires:

  • a tone before each recorded message;
  • messages with the information needed to reach a safe zone;
  • other languages allowed, but all of them together within 60 seconds, with Russian first;
  • a pause of 4 to 8 seconds between repeats.

  It recommends a calm pace of 60 to 100 words per minute, no jargon and avoiding negatives.

• Stop the music. Proulx advises switching off background music; SP 3.13130.2026 requires background music and public address sound to be switched off before the warning starts.

Loud enough and clear enough

USA, NFPA 72.

• Alarm signals in public areas must be at least 15 dB above the average ambient sound level, or 5 dB above the maximum level lasting at least 60 seconds, whichever is greater, measured 1.5 m above the floor.
• The total sound level must not exceed 110 dBA at the minimum hearing distance. Where the average ambient level is above 105 dBA, visual alarms are required.
• Voice messages must be intelligible in the spaces where the designer requires it. A quantitative measurement is not required.

Russia, SP 3.13130.2026, in force since June 1, 2026.

• The warning must be at least 10 dB above steady noise in apartments and 15 dB elsewhere. It must also be at least 55 dBA in apartments and 65 dBA elsewhere, measured 1.5 m above the floor.
• It may not exceed 110 dBA at 1.5 m (120 dBA elsewhere). In rooms where people sleep, it must be 75 to 95 dBA at the sleeper's head.
• Speech must be intelligible over at least 90% of each room's area. A simplified check counts as satisfactory when noise is no more than 65 dBA, speech is at least 10 dB above it, and loudspeakers are no more than 6 m apart (one-way) or 12 m apart (two-way).
• The warning must start automatically within 10 seconds of the signal from the fire alarm or suppression system.

The previous Russian code, SP 3.13130.2009, used different values: at least 75 dBA at 3 m from the sounder and no more than 120 dBA anywhere. Many web pages still quote them.

Which standards apply

• European product standards.
  • EN 54-16: voice alarm control and indicating equipment. It does not cover the audibility or intelligibility of the system as a whole.
  • EN 54-24: voice alarm loudspeakers.
  • EN 54-3: sounders.
  • EN 54-23: visual alarm devices.
• Design guidance. CEN/TS 54-32:2015 covers planning, design, installation, commissioning, use and maintenance of voice alarm systems. In the UK, the code of practice is BS 5839-8:2023.
• Not for fire. EN 50849:2017, which replaced EN 60849, explicitly does not apply to sound systems used for evacuation in a fire.
• Russia. SP 3.13130.2026 no longer sorts systems into "types 1–5". It sets the warning methods instead: sound, speech, light and touch. Its Table B.1 requires speech, for example:
  • in offices from 5,000 m²;
  • in shops and hotels from 3,500 m²;
  • in apartment buildings 28 m tall or more;
  • in theaters and cinemas for more than 200 people;
  • in underground car parks with 50 or more spaces;
  • in any building where 50 or more people are present at once.

Emergency lighting

• Europe, EN 1838:2024. Published in December 2024, it replaced the 2013 edition. BSI summarizes the main change as a requirement "to illuminate the total width of escape routes... rather than just the centre line as before." National versions of the 2013 edition may remain until June 2027.

• Europe, EN 50172:2024. It replaced the 2004 edition and covers installation, verification, the logbook, testing and maintenance. Its basic rule: emergency escape lighting "shall be provided promptly, automatically and for a suitable time" when normal lighting fails. The 2024 editions moved recommended durations and switch-on times into an informative annex.

• UK. BS 5266-1:2025 replaced the 2016 edition and now also covers local area and standby lighting. UK government guidance says systems are designed for one to three hours, with three hours the most popular. Testing means:

  • a daily visual check of central equipment;
  • a monthly function test;
  • an annual full discharge test.

  Batteries typically take 24 hours to recharge, and the premises should not be reoccupied until the system works again, unless other arrangements have been made.

• Russia. Under SP 3.13130.2026, evacuation lighting switches on automatically when a fire is detected, without switching off normal lighting. Photoluminescent signs are allowed only where normal lighting is at least 50 lx. Lux values are left to the lighting norms.

• Signs. ISO 7010 is the international catalogue of registered safety signs, including evacuation signs. EN 1838:2024 refers to it.

The 2013 values come from a manufacturer's summary. The 2024 edition changed the escape route rule as described above, and we could not see its new figures. The NFPA 101 values come from a manufacturer's page quoting the code.

One chain: detection, message, light

The warning is started by the fire alarm. In Russia, the warning must start within 10 seconds of the fire alarm signal, the music goes off first, and evacuation lighting switches on at detection. In Azerbaijan, the 2025 design code for high-rise buildings, AzDTN 2.7-9, requires a warning system that:

• uses sound and light signals;
• gives directions on free escape routes to every apartment, office and hotel room, with a sound in apartments and hotel rooms similar to an alarm clock;
• provides two-way communication between those rooms and the fire post;
• follows an algorithm built on the information from addressable detectors. More on those in our article on addressable and conventional fire alarms.

In Azerbaijan

AzDTN 2.7-9 sends warning and evacuation design to section 6 of DTN 2.02-01. The official list of construction norms in force (January 1, 2026) includes interstate norms such as MSN 2.04-05-95 on natural and artificial lighting and MSN 2.02-01-97 on fire safety of buildings. It also includes a manual on designing warning and evacuation systems in public buildings. Russia's SP 3.13130 and SP 52.13330 and the European EN 54 and EN 1838 were not found in it. Confirm the rules for a specific building with the Ministry of Emergency Situations and in the design brief.

Common mistakes

• A generic recorded message. Proulx found that such messages could not tell people where the nearest exit was.
• Designing to superseded Russian values. The 2009 code's "75 dBA at 3 m" no longer applies; since June 2026 the requirements are set at 1.5 m above the floor.
• Citing EN 50849 for a fire voice alarm. Its scope excludes fire evacuation.
• Lighting only the center line of a wide route. EN 1838:2024 asks for the whole width.
• Background music that keeps playing. It has to stop before the warning starts.