In most states the obligation to establish warning and evacuation systems used to warn the employees and the people living close to the enterprises of accidents or fires are defined directly by law. The duty of such a warning is usually defined by three spheres of legal standards:
- General occupational safety-related regulations;
- Civil defence-related regulations (Public address systems);
- Fire regulations (Fire-related evacuation broadcasting systems and electronic fire alarms);
Unlike the technical requirements applied to the first group stated, the requirements related to technical devices designed for public address systems, fire-related evacuation broadcasting systems and electronic fire alarms are very precisely defined in most of the countries. In the past it was common practice was to establish separate fire evacuation systems. In addition to that, if the manufacturer was endangering the environment due to the hazardous material application, such a manufacturer was also obliged to establish a separate warning system. Nowadays many countries have the interconnected the definitions of these systems, to increase their efficiency, as defined by law. If such systems are to be even more enhanced they must be integrated. The integration of these systems also serves the need of small business owners as it represents savings in terms of both the system establishment and operation costs.