Functional testing of ventilation systems in schools during activated fire alarm. Coherence with the fire safety strategy

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present results from functional testing of ventilation systems in schools during activated fire alarm. It was investigated whether the results had coherence with the ventilation strategy in the fire safety concept and the function description for the ventilation system. Functional testing was performed at several schools in three different municipalities in Norway. Results from the preliminary mapping showed that some of the personnel responsible for maintenance of the ventilation systems lacked knowledge about the system's function during fire. Older schools often don't have a fire safety strategy at all, whereas newer schools and renovated schools normally have well documented fire safety strategies, including the ventilation system's function during fire. However, there is little or no information in the building's MOM-documentation (management, operation and maintenance) about how functional testing must be performed. The functional testing showed several incoherencies with the fire safety strategy of the school buildings.