Modern Building Services

MODERN BUILDING SERVICES DECEMBER 2022/JANUARY 2023 13 FEATURE WORKING BUILDINGS M any people are surprised to learn that in fire situations, most fatalities suffered are due to smoke, not the actual fire. In 2021 over a third 1 of fire-related fatalities – where a cause was known – were down to people becoming “overcome by gas or smoke” and yet still smoke management in buildings is, unfortunately, a thing that isn’t seen and therefore misunderstood. Smoke is a product of fire and should therefore be treated, in terms of safety, as seriously through the building management system (BMS) and fire safety alarm system - not just at the design and specification stages of a build, but right through the whole process including installation, testing, maintenance, and service. Smoke fans, or high temperature axial fans, have been supplied to the marketplace for over 40 years. They are the main airflow driver with a smoke control system and respond to alarms but before 2005, not all fans were created equal. Older standards set out that high temperature axials, and the motors on which they run, could be certified by the factory where they are made, not necessarily independently, meaning there was room for problems to occur. As a result, worryingly many of these fans may now not be fit for purpose. With the new regulation in the Fire Safety Order and Building Safety Act (PAS 8670), the rules around testing and compliance have positively now changed. Nowadays all smoke fans need tomeet set building legislation and be certified to EN12101 Part 3 to be specified. Performance is now independently tested by third party test houses and independent factory audits are conducted through the BSI, meaning that fans going into new builds are up to the job. Disturbingly though, these standards are not retrospective and where a building has a pre- 2005 fan installed, there is no legislation to say that it should be replaced. Emergency use fans for heat and smoke control systems, manufactured for safety-critical operations, should be replaced as a good practice every 25 years and yet we know that isn’t the case. It is unfortunately common that when a building is finished and handed over to facilitiesmanagement teams problems come... As smoke control fans and their associated motors are a life safety product, maintenance rules differ from those applied to normal fans. Anything that operates on the alarm system must be tested periodically and maintained accordingly – in this case, prevention really is better than cure. We wouldn’t dream of running a car for five years without a service or MOT and yet we are just assuming our smoke management systems are working as they should without regular testing. Fan maintenance and servicing are often overlooked or put off as it isn’t as straightforward as simply testing the smoke alarm works each week. These fans are often hidden away – in ceiling voids, up on roofs, or stuck up inside a riser – so are easily missed, or simply too inaccessible for a maintenance engineer to reach. ➜ Simon Plummer , Divisional Manager for Axials at Nuaire, says ongoing maintenance is key for working buildings to remain safe and compliant when it comes to smoke management and fire safety. Ongoing maintenance is key for working buildings