FIRE SAFETY


A practical approach to fire damper maintenance


Andrew Steel, managing director of Airmec Essential Services, outlines the critical importance of fire dampers and in keeping these devices fully maintained and compliant, especially in healthcare facilities.


Fire dampers are critical safety devices, hidden away inside ventilation ducting and key to preventing the spread of fire. Hopefully, they are never required to close in anger, but regular inspection and testing of their readiness to do so is obviously vital – and required by law. However, there are a worrying number of buildings where these checks are still not happening. This is for many reasons, but none would standup in a court of law following a disaster. The use and configuration of a building may have changed many times over the years, leading to an incomplete understanding of where the dampers even are. Stretched budgets may have pushed even mandatory actions down the list of priorities. Chequered maintenance histories are, in my


experience, all too common. Add to that issues with incorrect installation techniques, and the bottom line is that potentially thousands of fire dampers in UK hospital premises are non-compliant with current safety legislation, posing a direct risk to building users.


The solution NHS figures put the cost of eradicating all backlog maintenance in NHS estates at £13.8bn, and we all know there is not enough money to plug the gap. Trusts continue to face enormous daily challenges, and it is increasingly being accepted that choices have to be made, with a growing emphasis on risk-based maintenance. What does this mean in practice for safety-critical


infrastructure, specifically fire dampers which, following recent information campaigns and guidance updates, can no longer be kept out of mind? There is, however, a roadmap based on intelligent and diligent application of a risk-based approach to compliance management. The first step towards resolution is to know your building,


have a comprehensive asset register that gives you a complete picture, and to work to understand risk so you can manage it pragmatically with a focus on building users, not just compliance box ticking. You will almost certainly need to work with a specialist


service provider but will still hold the ultimate responsibility as a duty holder or responsible person. Choosing the right partner is essential.


Why is fire damper maintenance so urgent? Poor compliance of fire damper maintenance has been a concern of mine for many years. I have long witnessed that it has been easy to overlook, or to defer because of logistical and budget implications. We were so often coming across buildings where there was no definitive


May 2026 Health Estate Journal 33


register of where fire dampers were, let alone evidence of a robust inspection and testing regime. Now the risk has become impossible to leave on the back burner because, back in 2022 alarm bells were rung about faulty fire damper installation practices, where contractors had used the wrong fixings. The issue was raised publicly by the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) and prompted government action with the Office for Product Safety & Standards (OPSS) saying it would act to address the continued controversy surrounding the installation of smoke control dampers in buildings. In a nutshell, the issue was that use of self-drilling (‘Tek’) screws for joining duct sections made installation quicker, cheaper, and easier. Remember, fire dampers themselves


The first step towards resolution is to know your building.


This hatch would prove difficult to access for any technician.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80