When visiting a swimming pool or winter stadium, people hardly ever think of facing a threat of suffocating or serious poisoning because of toxic evaporative gases like ammonia or chlorine.

A potential risk of danger to people present in swimming pool and winter stadium areas rests in the technologies applied. Coolants in winter stadiums contain great amounts of hazardous ammonia. Similarly, disinfectants in swimming pools contain another toxic and evaporative gas, chlorine. Escape of either of the two gases poses a serious risk, not only to visitors to such facilities but also to people living in adjoining residential premises. Leisure and sports facilities are often situated nearby or directly within such premises.

Careful maintenance and service of technological equipment in swimming pools and winter stadiums can prevent or minimise the previously mentioned risk; however, they can never eliminate the risk altogether. Humans may always fail (switch a valve wrongly, damage a pipe by hitting it with a forklift, etc.) or unpredictable emergencies may occur due to the so-called force-majeure factors (acts of nature such as extreme weather conditions, earthquakes, floods, etc.)

Despite the fact that the risk of emergency can never be totally prevented, its consequences can, by using a modern mass early warning system. This system can detect any gas leakage and warn the population in an endangered area so that they can start the immediate evacuation. The solution designed by the Telegrafia company is based on the powerful Pavian electronic siren, providing high-quality acoustic coverage of the endangered area by a warning signal. It is possible to combine the siren with the Amadeo PA system installed in buildings and adjacent areas. Thanks to using Telegrafia’s products, the complex solution provides several considerable benefits:

• The Pavian electronic siren contains binary inputs and outputs that can be directly connected to toxic gas detectors, which considerably saves investment costs (there is no need to build a separate monitoring system).
• The Pavian electronic siren can be controlled locally or remotely; therefore, not only can it be used as a local warning system but, after embedding the relevant module, it can be interconnected with a national system, warning against tornadoes, floods, or large-scale industrial disasters. It is a great advantage, especially in open areas exposed to harsh weather conditions.
• Unlike the obsolete mechanical siren, the modern electronic siren can reproduce any sound, thus, apart from typically warning tones, it can also broadcast live voice messages and evacuation instructions from its internal memory, built-in microphone, or even from a smartphone.
• If the Amadeo PA system is part of the warning solution, it can be used for both warning purposes in emergency situations and ordinary operational and entertainment purposes in non-emergency situations.
• The system can be connected to evacuation PA systems in surrounding buildings. For example, if there is a shopping centre in the immediate vicinity of a swimming pool or winter stadium, a warning message will be automatically delivered to the shopping centre in the case of gas leakage.

In many highly-developed countries, the obligation to build local warning systems to protect their inhabitants is included in the national legislation. However, even without being legally bound, by building this type of warning system, swimming pool and winter stadium owners can benefit from a great PR advantage of having a chance to clearly convey an important message of protecting life and ensuring safety for their end customers.

If you have any questions regarding local warning systems for swimming pools and winter stadiums, we are always ready to answer them and help you. Feel free to contact us.