In the event of a fire, a smoke control system is used to keep a building's escape routes and access routes free from

smoke Smoke is an aerosol (a suspension of airborne particulates and gases) emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwante ...

, assist fire-fighting operations and delay or prevent

flashover A flashover is the near-simultaneous ignition of most of the directly exposed combustible material in an enclosed area. When certain organic materials are heated, they undergo thermal decomposition and release flammable gases. Flashover occurs wh ...

, thereby reducing the risk that the fire will escalate. In the United Kingdom, the Smoke Control Association operates as a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

and advisory organisation in this field.

Standards

Within the

International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. M ...

(ISO), Technical Committee ISO/TC 21/SC 11 is responsible for the development of standards concerned with smoke and heat control systems and components.ISO
ISO/TC 21/SC 11: Smoke and heat control systems and components
accessed 6 October 2021 In Australia and New Zealand, joint standard AS/NZS 1668.1:2015 aims to provide: Requirements for the

maintenance The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...

of smoke control systems fall outside this standard.

References

{{Firefighting-stub Smoke Fire protection