Access control and fire alarm must work together at any site as one thwart illegal entry and the other saves lives from fires on site. Access controls and turnstiles are true examples of unmanned entry & exit control with stringent credential checks & balances and there is no status quo of being open or closed forever unless the circumstances arise. When everything is running smoothly sometimes it becomes a habit to leave things unchecked unless strict rules are imposed and implemented to keep check and balance. Many things remain unnoticed at various sites which may prove very dangerous in certain times.
Fire is the most undesired calamity that may happen on site, in a building or any premises. And imagine the high-rise building or just 3-4 floor building if lifts & doors are closed and remain closed at the time of fire, then it will not let people in the building to leave and the fire-fighters or the rescue team cannot go in for rescue operations as closed doors pose the difficulty. It is undesired to use the electric lift in case of emergency situations like fire.
In case of fire, all the doors must open regardless of any pre-designed access control scenario. There are many methods to achieve it and it may depend on the type of access control lock like fail safe (unlocked when the power is disconnected) or fail secure (locked when the power is connected), type of access control panel etc.
When the fire is detected by the fire alarm, it must send the trigger in such a way that access control must open all the electric locks to allow people to exit immediately and the call must get connected to the fire department and let the fire control team enter the area without any let or hindrance. The system connections are made as per local rules and codes. The required and needed results can be achieved by various methods either by hooking electric locks to the fire panel directly or by software control.
Nundnet devices are provided with the dry/ relay contact for integration of Access control and fire alarm to make things easy. And we strongly recommend the integration of access control and fire alarm systems as nothing is more valuable than life.