The UK’s No.1 for smoke control maintenance and servicing.Having pioneered smoke control in the 1930’s and with over 70 years of servicing experience, Colt is the UK’s leading provider of smoke control and ventilation maintenance. Each one of our 60 engineers have been expertly trained and accredited with one aim in mind – to keep your buildings safe and legal.
Testing and Maintenance of Life Safety Installations in buildings is mandatory under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order. Following the Prime Minister’s announcement at 8.30pm on 23 March 2020, it remains imperative that people living and working in the built environment are kept safe regardless of the current Covid-19 lockdown conditions. Fires still happen, emergencies do not respect crisis management.
Testing and maintaining of life safety systems in order to keep them operating at their maximum effectiveness is one of the most important aspects of Facilities Management. Maintenance frequencies are specified under BS 9999 and for smoke control systems, this should be tested weekly and maintained annually as a minimum.
Unfortunately, due to the ongoing crisis, many organisations are paring back their maintenance regimes to reactive maintenance only, i.e. repairing systems only once a fault is apparent. This is putting lives at risk - the problem is, life safety systems often lie dormant in a state of readiness for when needed, so faults and failures often go undetected for some time or until an emergency occurs, when it may well be too late.
Furthermore, if a fault occurs and a system has reduced performance or is inoperable, mitigating provisions should be put in place to offset the risk in the event of a fire. This might be simply be employing a waking watch for the building, but worst case could mean a total decant to alternative locations.
The best way to avoid this is to continue with planned maintenance, make sure all systems are operating effectively and keep buildings as safe as they always should be.
The Prime Minister made it clear in his statement that essential services should continue. Maintaining life safety systems is essential where buildings are still being occupied and many being occupied much more than normal – in particular residential properties, healthcare and other premises providing support functions, such as factories and warehouses.
Our team is so dedicated to delivering good quality service that 14 of our longest serving engineers have an average of 20 years each at Colt. That’s truly unparalleled experience - for all Colt-qualified smoke control engineers, the training never stops.
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.
If you are responsible for the upkeep and safety of a building and its occupants, our scheduled maintenance programs will help you stay legal and put your mind at ease.
Although clearly related to fire, smoke control systems demand specific, thorough maintenance from specialist engineers. If you are currently using a fire security company to look after your smoke control systems, learn more about why this could be a dangerous option.
It is a requirement of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, that life safety equipment such a smoke control be “maintained by a competent person who is familiar with the fire engineering performance specifications of that specific system." Colt engineers are just such people.
With the UK’s highest number of fully trained and IFC-accredited engineers and over 70 years of experience in servicing smoke control systems, Colt truly is your best choice for competency. Find out more about our engineers’ training, our accreditations and our health and safety practices.
At Colt, we make sure all our engineers are trained up to the highest available standards. When a Colt engineer pays you a site visit, you can rest assured that your building’s systems are in competent, professional, trustworthy hands.
Find out more about the great service you can expect from your Colt engineer.
Colt engineers are experts in servicing all smoke and climate control systems and products, including those that are not our own. Find out more about the system and product types that we service on a regular basis.
Colt pioneered the design and use of smoke control systems in the 1930’s and is the undisputed leader in the field. That’s why we are always trusted with the most complex projects. If you need expert help designing, commissioning and installing a properly functioning smoke control system, talk to us.
Need smoke control system spare parts fast? We’ve got you covered. Talk to our team today about your requirements.
