What makes a smoke vent conform?

Welcome to another smoke ventilation blog by Sertus. This week we’ll be telling you exactly what it is that makes a smoke vent conform. It goes without saying that smoke vents aren’t just a window or dome, they’re a piece of life safety equipment – so it’s really important it confirms to the correct standards.

The primary reason we want to make sure life safety equipment is properly certified, is the safety of the occupants of the building, but there are some other reasons too! Not taking life safety systems properly can result in you being banned from your profession, issues with large fines, or potentially a jail sentence. This isn’t a scaremongering ploy, believe us! Because when the process is done correctly, there’s no reason to worry about things going this far, but it’s important we get the early small steps correct to make sure we don’t end up with a later problem.

In order to look into conformance, we have to look back to July 2013 when the CPR (Construction Products Regulation) was introduced. It introduced the requirement for smoke ventilation manufacturers to only put products onto the market that comply with the BS EN 12101 harmonised standards. Demonstration of compliance with the CPR involves the manufacturer is showing a declaration of performance for each product. This means that the manufacturer must appoint a notified body, who will provide a certificate to the manufacturer. This certificate will take into account initial testing of the product, factory production control & continuous surveillance of the factory production control.

Once the certificate has been issued, it allows the manufacturer to issue a DoP, which states what the product has been tested to & its suitability to use. When you’re looking at your project, ensure that the manufacturer of your smoke ventilation products have given you a DoP. If they haven’t then simply contact them and ask to see these. That way, you’ll know your safe and the manufacturer knows you’re taking the smoke ventilation components of the project very seriously.

The most important part is making sure the residents know that they have a compliant solution which will help save their lives in the event of a fire. Sertus have DoPs available on all of our product pages, where necessary. Take a look here. If you have any questions or queries please feel free to contact us.