Jackson Fire & Security launch the first Siemens Welsh voice evacuation sounders with Wrexham college help

Jackson Fire & Security have combined with fire alarm manufacturers Siemens to introduce their first Welsh language speech evacuation sounders, with a Coleg Cambria tutor providing the voice.

Siemens already had 15 languages integrated into the voice sounder beacons, but Jackson Fire & Security say they identified the importance of offering the Welsh language as an option to their customers.

Voice sounders are used as part of a voice evacuation system in large public and commercial buildings to quickly alert occupiers to an emergency and instruct them to evacuate the premises. They are used predominately in public buildings, office buildings, hotels and schools. There has been a ‘positive response’ from their clients in North Wales, including education facilities and social housing providers.

They were then tasked with finding a suitable candidate for recording the evacuation messages in the Welsh language.

Managing Director Steve Jackson identified Coleg Cambria’s Learn Welsh tutor Eilir Jones as the perfect person to record these important fire safety messages for the Welsh public. Eilir is well-known for his writing and performances and is a regular on Welsh stage, screen and radio.

The Welsh fire and security specialists also called in help from long-term customers Coleg Cambria for the use of their music studio, saying the excellent facilities provided by Coleg Cambria allowed for the right quality of recordings for Siemens to implement into their system.

David Brennan, Coleg Cambria’s sound engineering and music technician met with managing director Steve Jackson and Eilir Jones at their Yale Campus in Wrexham. David helped coordinate the recordings to ensure they were the quality Siemens needed for their voice sounder beacons.

Managing Director Steve Jackson said: “Jackson Fire & Security are very proud to have led the implementation of the Welsh language into the Siemens voice evacuation system. We express our thanks to chief executive David Jones OBE and David Brennan at Coleg Cambria for their help with the facilities and recordings.

“We also express our gratitude to Eilir Jones for taking the time to record the evacuation messages which he did for us effortlessly.

“We have a fantastic partnership with Siemens Building Technologies and we would like to thank the team at Siemens for their cooperation in working with us to offer this to our Welsh customers.”

Head of Fire Products at Siemens Building Technologies, Rob Yates said: “Voice systems are generally the preferred method for managing the general public in an emergency situation with multilingual voice evacuation sounders able to convey precise information to a wider group of people.

“The Welsh language capability that Jackson has developed is another great example of the bespoke customisation work that our partners have been implementing into our protection system. Different environments require the right solutions to create the perfectly protected environment.”