Public Address & Voice Alarm Systems Ormskirk, Liverpool & Manchester
PA, paging and voice alarm systems for commercial premises across the North West. Voice alarm designed and installed to BS 5839-8, by a contractor who does your fire alarm too.
commercial public address & voice alarm installation
We install and maintain PA and voice alarm systems for commercial premises across the North West, from a handful of speakers over a warehouse floor through to full voice alarm forming part of a building’s fire strategy. We’re based in Ormskirk, with engineers covering Merseyside, Greater Manchester and West Lancashire.
PA & voice alarm systems we install & maintain
There are two systems here and it’s worth being clear about which one you’re actually after, because they look similar and they are not remotely the same thing. A public address system makes announcements. A voice alarm evacuates a building, which makes it life safety equipment with a British Standard, certified components and a maintenance obligation attached to it. Plenty of premises need one, some need both, and a fair few have a PA system that somebody at some point started treating as a voice alarm without anyone checking whether it could do the job. If you’re not sure which you need, your fire strategy or fire risk assessment is the place to look, and we’re happy to go through it with you.
Voice alarm systems (PAVA)
Where a fire strategy calls for a spoken evacuation message rather than a sounder, the system becomes part of your fire protection. That means designing to BS 5839-8, using amplifiers and loudspeakers certified to the relevant parts of EN 54, running monitored cabling so the panel knows when a circuit has failed, providing standby power for when the mains goes, and proving the message is genuinely intelligible once it’s installed. It gets specified because it works. People move faster and panic less when a voice tells them what’s happening and what to do, rather than leaving them to work it out from a bell.
General PA & paging
Announcements and paging across a site, without the life safety obligations. Warehouses, factories, yards, trade counters and distribution centres mostly, where the job is being heard clearly over machinery and background noise. Microphone stations wherever you need them, zoned so a yard announcement doesn’t go out across the offices, and speaker choice and positioning worked out around the actual acoustics rather than spaced evenly and hoped for.
Standards, Intelligibility & Compliance
A PA system that’s hard to make out is an irritation. A voice alarm that’s hard to make out is a safety failure. That difference is why one of them has a standard attached and the other doesn’t.
Voice alarm to BS 5839-8
Voice alarm is part of the fire system rather than an accessory to it. BS 5839-8 governs how it’s designed, installed, commissioned and maintained, and the equipment needs certification to the relevant parts of EN 54. Cabling is monitored so faults are reported rather than discovered on the day it matters, there’s standby power to keep it running through a mains failure, and the whole thing has to take its instructions cleanly from the fire detection system driving it.
Speech intelligibility
Coverage and intelligibility are not the same thing. A message can be plenty loud and still be unusable in a room with hard surfaces and a long reverberation time, because the words run into each other before they reach anyone. Intelligibility gets measured rather than assumed, and we design speaker layouts around the acoustics of the actual space. On voice alarm it’s tested at commissioning and the result is recorded, which is what a fire risk assessor will ask to see.
When a PA system isn't enough
We regularly come across premises using an ordinary PA system for evacuation announcements. It’s an easy assumption to make and it doesn’t hold up. A general PA has no monitored cabling, so a failed speaker circuit goes unnoticed. It has no standby power, so it dies with the mains, which is exactly when you need it. Its components carry no EN 54 certification. If your fire strategy calls for voice evacuation, the system has to be designed for it from the start.
commercial premises we work in
We work across most commercial sectors and premises across the North West. If yours isn’t on the list, please ask.
Warehouse
Paging that carries over racking, machinery and general noise, zoned so the offices aren’t included in every yard call.
Retail units
Staff paging on the shop floor and in stockrooms, plus voice alarm in larger stores where the public need clear direction rather than a bell.
offices
Voice alarm is common in larger and multi storey buildings, particularly where evacuation is phased rather than everyone leaving at once.
manufacturing
Speakers and amplifiers chosen for the environment, with output that competes with plant noise without being painful during a quiet shift.
Schools & Colleges
Coverage across classrooms, halls, corridors and outdoor spaces, zoned so lesson changeovers and safeguarding messages reach the right people.
Healthcare
Voice alarm where evacuation is phased or progressive, designed around people who can’t simply walk out when an alarm sounds.
Transport & Logistics
Anywhere the public is being directed by announcement, where being understood matters more than being loud.
Hospitality
Larger venues where voice alarm is specified, usually in rooms with difficult acoustics that make intelligibility the whole job.
Commissioning and intelligibility testing
Once it’s in, we set levels zone by zone and tune the system to the room rather than to a spec sheet. On voice alarm we measure and record intelligibility, and that record is what a fire risk assessor or building control officer will want to see. It’s the part most often missing from systems installed by an AV contractor rather than a fire contractor.
Servicing and maintenance
Voice alarm is maintained alongside the fire alarm and on the same cycle, because it’s part of the same system. General PA carries no legal obligation but still benefits from an annual look, since amplifiers, speakers and microphones tend to fail quietly and nobody notices until the day somebody needs to make an announcement.
Working with your fire system
This is the part worth having one contractor for. Voice alarm takes its instructions from fire detection, and getting the cause and effect right, so the correct message plays in the correct zones in the correct order, is where most of the design effort actually goes. We install and maintain fire alarms as well, so it’s one design rather than two contractors pointing at each other when something doesn’t work.
Recent Public Address Installation
We were proud to work with Campus Alt Bridge Specialist Sports College in Huyton on the design and installation of a new public address system across the school. Serving pupils with a range of needs, the setup gives staff clear, reliable site wide communication for lesson changeovers, safeguarding announcements and emergency evacuation, with speaker coverage carefully positioned to be effective without being overwhelming. The full install was completed during the school holidays to keep disruption to lessons and daily routines to an absolute minimum, and handed back to the site team ready for the first day of term. A meaningful project for us, supporting a school that does incredible work for its community.
Our installation Process
HOW WE GET IT DONE
Straightforward, and the same on every job. No surprises at the end of it. It’s about results, not excuses.
01
Free site visit
We come out and listen to the building, which matters more here than on most jobs. Room sizes, surfaces, noise levels and what you actually need the system to do.
02
Scope & Design
Speaker layout designed around the acoustics of each space. On voice alarm, designed to BS 5839-8 with EN 54 certified equipment, monitored cabling, standby power and a cause and effect worked out against your fire system.
03
written quotation
Fixed price, itemised, with the scope in writing. If something is likely to turn up once we open things up, we’ll tell you at quote stage rather than after.
04
Installation
Scheduled around you. Out of hours and phased working are normal on live premises, and where we’re replacing an existing system we keep cover in place through the changeover.
05
commissioning
Levels set per zone, messages recorded and loaded, cause and effect proved against the fire panel, and intelligibility measured and documented on voice alarm.
06
Handover & Servicing
Staff shown how to use it properly, documentation handed over, and a servicing schedule set up.
FAQ
Common questions we get asked
Most of these come up on survey, and the first one comes up almost every time. If there’s something here we haven’t covered, ring us and ask.
What's the difference between a PA system and a voice alarm?
A PA system makes announcements. A voice alarm evacuates a building, which means it’s designed to BS 5839-8, uses EN 54 certified equipment, monitors its own cabling and runs on standby power when the mains fails. They can share loudspeakers in some designs, but a general PA system is not a voice alarm and can’t be treated as one.
Can we use our existing PA system for fire evacuation?
Almost certainly not, and it’s a common assumption. A general PA has no monitored cabling, no standby power and no EN 54 certified components, so it can fail silently and it stops working in a mains failure. If your fire strategy requires voice evacuation, the system needs designing for that specifically. We’ll survey what you have and tell you honestly where it stands.
Does my building need a voice alarm?
Your fire strategy or fire risk assessment decides it. Voice alarm tends to be specified where a building is large, where evacuation is phased, or where the occupants are members of the public unfamiliar with the layout and a bell alone wouldn’t produce the right response. If you’re not sure, the assessment is the place to start.
Our announcements are loud but nobody can understand them. Why?
Almost always the room rather than the volume. Hard surfaces and high ceilings create reverberation that blurs speech, and turning it up makes it worse rather than better. The fix is usually more speakers at lower output, positioned closer to people, and sometimes a different speaker type. It’s very fixable.
How often does a voice alarm need servicing?
On the same cycle as your fire alarm, because it forms part of the same system. That means servicing by a competent contractor at least twice a year, alongside your own routine checks. We put clients on a schedule so both get done on the same visit rather than two separate appointments.
Can you service a system somebody else installed?
Usually. We’ll inspect it and give you an honest view of its condition. On voice alarm we’d want to check it was designed and commissioned properly in the first place, because we’ve come across systems with no intelligibility record and no meaningful fire interface behind them.
Can one system do both announcements and fire evacuation?
If it’s designed that way from the start, and it’s often the sensible approach because you get two functions from one installation. The fire function always takes priority and overrides everything else. What doesn’t work is bolting evacuation onto a PA system that was never built for it.
Our Working Hours
opening hours
We are always happy to hear about new Public Address & security project needs and enquiries. Call us directly, fill in the form on our contact page, or use the chat at the bottom of the screen and we will come back to you as soon as we can. Emergency callouts are available outside these hours.
Mon………………..8am to 10pm
Tue…………………8am to 10pm
Wed………………..8am to 10pm
Thu…………………8am to 10pm
Fri…………………..8am to 10pm
Sat………………….8am to 10pm
Sun………………………….Closed
Areas we Serve
PA & voice alarm installation across the North West
We’re based in Ormskirk and install PA and voice alarm systems across West Lancashire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester, from Ormskirk and Skelmersdale out to Liverpool, Manchester, Southport, Wigan, Warrington, Preston and St Helens. Send the postcode over if you’re not sure whether we reach you.
Public address system Related Services
Voice alarm is one piece of a wider fire and security setup, and most of the buildings we work in need two or three of these systems on the same schedule. Keeping them under one contractor means fewer visits, less admin over whose interface it is.
Different job, same panel room and often the same monitoring centre. Sharing a maintenance schedule across both keeps the admin down and means one engineer can handle everything on a single visit.
Specified and inspected on similar cycles, and usually going in at the same time on a fit out or refurbishment. One contractor keeps the paperwork and the visits down.
Voice alarm is driven by fire detection, so the two are really one system. Having both from us means one design, one cause and effect, and one servicing visit rather than two.
Free Consultation
Schedule A Free Consultation
Tell us about the building and what you need it to do. We’ll come out, listen to the space, and put a fixed price in writing. No charge, no obligation, and it’s a genuine survey rather than a sales call.