In the early 1900s, building fires resulted in a significant number of occupant deaths. People were crushed to death in the panic that usually results during a fire. Some of the reasons for the deaths were doors opening inward, locked exiting doors or an inadequate number of exit doors.

It seems that a 1911 fire at a shirt factory resulted in the deaths of 148 girls. The story continues with the owner/operator of the building being arrested and going to trial on a charge of “not providing adequate protection for his employees.” His defense was, “There were no laws defining the degree of protection he had to provide for his workers.” He was convicted; significantly fined and sent to prison.

As a result of this and other fires, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) was formed with the assistance of insurance companies. Their goal is to establish and improve the levels of building safety. Over the years, many building standards have been implemented.

This brings us to the present. SARGENT has just introduced a next generation exit device that creates a concise pathway to safety during an emergency. The SARGENT Beacon is a UL Listed exit device for use on panic (UL 305) and fire-rated (UL10C) exit devices. The Beacon-equipped SARGENT 80 Series Exit Device provides exit device functionality during an emergency. This pathway is a combination of visible and audible alerts. These built in alerts emit a pulse LED, white noise, an audible message “exit located here” and a green laser beamed from the exit device. The green laser forms an arrow shape pointing directly to the illuminated touch bar. These three alerts are designed to enable occupants to quickly locate illuminated touch bar and exit the building.

The SARGENT Beacon can be wired for continuous operation or integrated into the building’s existing fire alarm system. Important: The Beacon is fully programmed at factory. There is no field configuration required.