Fire and smoke damper testing

Posted on Friday 1 January 2010

Swiftclean Building Services’ dedicated Fire and Smoke Damper Testing service has been coming to the aid of property managers in recent months, as the sharpened focus of health and safety authorities and fire brigades has created a new challenge for them.

Many have inherited the management of properties with poor records of how many fire dampers the property has, where they are located and their type of construction; making compliance a difficult though necessary task. Now the pressure is on to comply and many property managers have turned to building services expert Swiftclean for assistance.

MD Gary Nicholls said: “Fire and Smoke dampers must be tested in accordance with BS 9999:2008. Spring operated fire dampers should be drop tested, cleaned and maintained at intervals of no greater than 12 months; while all other models should be drop tested, cleaned and maintained at least every two years. However, where the property is used for accommodation purposes, fire dampers must be tested annually, regardless of their type."

He added: "In healthcare settings, premises must also comply with Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 03-01: Specialised ventilation for healthcare premises Part B: Operational management and performance verification. These are passive fire safety devices, designed to slow the spread of fire and smoke and allow sufficient time for people to evacuate a building in a fire situation, so a regular testing regime can genuinely constitute a matter of life and death.”