\”May I have your attention please. There has been a fire emergency in the building. Please go to the nearest exit. Do not use the elevator.\”

I have been hearing that over and over again also accompanied by a siren. Because it\’s mid-semester break (for undergraduates), Wean Hall (primarily the School of Computer Science) has decided to test their fire alarm. Unfortunately, for some reason or another, the alarm has been going on and on for at least 3 hours. Being me and my recent headache storm, I basically crippled under it in pain. Ok, maybe not, but it was slightly painful.

The strange thing about alarms are that because false alarms occur so often, people don\’t pay attention when it is an actual valid alarm. In all my 23 years, I have yet to experience a true alarm. All the fire alarms I have experienced have resulted from accidental cooking, someone microwaving cheese too long, or some idiot smoking in their room. By having such a large number of false alarms, alarm loses its effectiveness.

The other day, in human factors, we were discussing the appropriate design for a smoke alarm. What is the right way to design it so that people will actually change the battery? What is the right way to design is so that people will know about a low battery? What is the right way to design it so that people can test it and understand when the alarm actually goes off? Where should it be placed so that people can actually reach it?

3 thoughts on “

  1. We had an actual fire alarm in our building last spring. Everyone slowly walked to exits and checked their lab to make sure that it wasn\’t them. And then some one ran down yelling fire. Then we ran and watched every fire truck avaible respond. No biggie, they had it out before safety even got there.

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