Are your smoke control systems properly installed and maintained?
By venting smoke from the building, the occupants can see the fire exits more easily, making escape routes more effective. By venting smoke form the building, firefighters have an easier job of locating the fire early on and extinguishing it, thereby containing and eliminating it faster.
By venting heat from the building, the number of sprinkler heads that operate are focused directly over the fire rather than over a wide expanse – reserving the precious water supply for the sprinklers directly above the fire. Venting heat from the building also means the high-level temperatures are reduced. This retains the structural integrity of the steelwork for longer, potentially avoiding complete building collapse.
A smoke test is no substitute for a proper service. If your current servicer is not conducting full motor resistance and load tests, checking battery charge rates and identifying cause and effect of any failures, then your system is not being tested robustly enough to ensure that it will be fully functional in the event of a real fire.
Colt carries out thorough, notarised testing on all the systems we maintain and our engineers receive full technical training on all system types when they join our team. This is refreshed regularly and supplemented whenever there are important developments or updates to the legal requirements.
For life safety equipment such as smoke control systems, the building operator or owner is required by law to provide a suitable system of maintenance to maintain the system in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.
