Emergency Phones

Emergency phones provide a supervised two-way voice path where someone may need help and cannot reach a normal telephone — elevators, stairwells, areas of refuge, parking structures, campuses and remote lots.

Most of these are code-driven rather than discretionary. Elevator phones are required and must reach a monitored answering point. Area-of-refuge stations are required by accessibility codes at designated refuge locations, so an occupant unable to use the stairs can communicate and be located during an evacuation.

Specify by mounting (surface, flush, tower or pedestal), by whether the unit is line-powered or system-powered, and by how it reports — local answering, central station, or both. ADA compliance affects mounting height and the controls the unit provides.