Area Of Rescue

Many new buildings are now incorporating Area Of Rescue (AOR) stations into their design. The purpose of these stations is to have a place where the handicapped can congregate in an emergency and to provide them with the capability of alerting rescue personnel of their location. These stations are mandatory in the United States and are now becoming much more common in Canada as well.

One or two AOR stations would typically be located in the hallways or stairwells on each floor of a building. In previous times, the communication device would be an intercom that would be connected to a base station in the lobby or CACF room. However, Webb Electronics has developed newer technology which now allows the AOR stations to be incorporated into the emergency elevator communication system. There are a number of significant advantages in doing this:

Location.
An intercom base station is bulky and is not designed to be mounted in a public location such as beside the fire anunciator panel in the building's lobby. It would have to be installed at a separate, secured location to prevent potential damage.
Appearance.
The Webb AOR system integrates smoothly with the elevator communication system so that a single, modern display panel in the lobby can tell you where incoming emergency calls are coming from and allows rescue personnel to call into any of the individual stations.
Wiring.
More building wiring is necessary for an intercom system to guarantee good sound quality.
Flexibility.
Intercom calls can only go between the calling station and the base station. With Webb equipment, it is easy to have the calls ring at the main lobby station and simultaneously at another on site location such as a security or concierge desk.
Safety.
Intercoms are designed to only call within the building. If an emergency call is made with an intercom system and no rescue personnel are on site yet, the caller has no way of getting help. With the Webb system, if no one answers within the building, the call will be automatically transferred to a permanently staffed off-site monitoring location. This significantly improves occupant safety plus it reduces the liability risk for the owners should the communication system be needed in an emergency.
Cost.
Equipment costs for a Webb AOR communication system are lower than the equivalent intercom-style Area of Rescue communication system.

How it Works

The Webb AOR system uses our ADA compliant FMS-150 handsfree telephone at each station. Pushing the call button will cause the telephone to ring at the LS-250 Rescue Station, typically located in the building's lobby or CACF room. Should the call not be answered at the Rescue Station, the call may be transferred off site to a permanently manned monitoring station.

For identification purposes, emergency personnel can see the location of the AOR station on the LCD display of the LS-250. The handsfree phones will also provide a voice message indicating where they are calling from. Rescue personnel can call into any of the individual rescue stations.

The Webb AOR system is also very flexible. For example, if the building has a concierge or security desk, a remote handset can be set up that will ring at the same time that the LS-250 Rescue Station is ringing. Calls can be made into any of the elevators or AOR stations from this remote handset as well.

Safety Features

In the event that more than one AOR station is trying to call out at the same time, rescue personnel are alerted that a call is waiting and the waiting stations will automatically redial until the line is free.
For the hearing impaired, the FMS-150 will begin flashing when emergency personnel have received the call.
Webbphones are the only handsfree phones that can automatically check their operation with our central computer. Should the phone not be working normally, our computer will automatically send an email message to the building manager to get the phone checked. This capability not only increases the safety factor but also reduces potential liability risk for the owners.