Simple testing of critical building infrastructure during a building handover- It could be live saving.
Stairways are fire escape routes, and for elderly residents, it is the safest place to be in a fire situation within a residential strata building, if you are unable to safely exit.
This is the theory, but it is not always true.
After recently discovering 2 separate stair pressurization fans (SPF) removing fresh air instead of supplying it to a fire stair in a residential building, it has become a process for Grays Rescue Building Managements to test if the Stair Pressurization Fans are supplying critical fresh air to a fire stairs during a building handover.
I encourage all building management companies to simply turn on the stair pressurization fans, throw a safety vest in the air and see if it blows the vest away or sucks the vest towards the fan within the fire stairs.
The question of how this inexcusable false result got passed by a mechanical servicing company testing the mechanical functioning of these fans periodically, is a question for another day.
What our company has learned from this experience is don’t assume any testing is undertaken correctly and find out for yourself with simple functionality testing for critical building infrastructure. It may save someone’s life.