While it may take an hour to fill a stadium, when an incident occurs, that stadium needs to be evacuated in just eight minutes.
Having done extensive work on stadium security, Eaton Southern Africa's head of sales, Neil Primrose, understands how important it is to have the right security procedures in place to ensure everyone is evacuated safely should something go wrong. "This is where technology comes in. We use things like emergency lighting, fire systems and voice notification to manage the message that is given to people."
According to Primrose, people react more calmly to a pre-recorded voice alert than they do to sirens, which can cause people to go into panic mode, creating chaos.
Commercial buildings, malls, hotels and stadiums all need to have these safety procedures in place to keep their visitors safe should something happen, he said, noting, however, that these solutions are often somewhat of a grudge purchase for CEOs and building and business owners. The key to these solutions is that they are subliminal and subtle rather than being thrown in the customers' face.
"Businesses have to understand that this is a very valuable investment and technology is the way to do it." These systems provide building owners with more intelligence, which also gives them more time to react to an incident, he notes. "This is all about driving technology as the best way to respond to an incident. And using this technology to control situations means that less people get hurt."
Primrose highlighted these points during the launch event for Eaton Electric's first ever South Africa Mobile Tech Day in Cape Town last week.
Eaton's month-long exhibition aims to showcase the company's solutions in commercial construction with industry specialists and thought leaders travelling the country demonstrating Eaton solutions to existing and new clients.
As part of the event, Eaton introduced its Dumeco DC switch-disconnectors, designed to aid solar PV equipment manufacturers and installers in an increasingly significant solar power market. Starting in Cape Town, the Eaton Mobile Tech Day exhibition will travel across the country until the middle of May.
Share
