The U.S. Department of Education yesterday published new federal regulations dealing with campus emergencies among other topics. The final regulations take effect on July 1, 2010 and implement laws enacted in 2008, including amendments to the Jeanne Clery Act adopted in the wake of the shootings at Virginia Tech and other campuses.

Section 668.46(e) of the regulations clarifies the difference between the existing timely warning requirement and the new requirement for an emergency notification policy. The regulations state that, While a timely warning must be issued in response to specific crimes, an emergency notification is required in the case of an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees occurring on campus.

With inclusion of the Mass Notification technology in the NFPA72: National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, 2010 edition, it became clear that Mass Notification went mainstream. Now more then ever it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each notification medium. Which ultimately leads to the question: how many notification layers should be utilized to adequately inform the entire population at hand?

The new NFPA 72 Chapter 24 is entitled Emergency Communications Systems (ECS). For the first time, the NFPA Code itself is dealing with issues of Mass Notification Systems, their design, installation and use, as well as their relationship with Fire Alarm Systems, which has historically been the main concern of NFPA.