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Smoke dampers: part of critical care: hospitals have a population with special concerns and vulnerabilities in case of fire. To maintain an effective passive smoke management system in health care environments, make sure you know how to incorporate and maintain smoke dampers in a life safety design meeting IBC, NFPA, and JCAHO requirements.

Article Excerpt
A full evacuation is often neither practical nor in the best interest of hospital patients. Therefore, the International Building Code (IBC) and NFPA 101, The Life Safety Code, both require that the safety of patients in hospitals be provided through the use of a defend-in-place strategy using multiple fire safety features, including construction, compartmentation, fire detection, and suppression, and a well-trained staff to assist in emergency relocation/evacuation of patients.

A key part of this strategy is to use smoke compartments formed by smoke barriers to create temporary safe areas for patients. Codes require that floors used for patients must be divided into a minimum of two smoke compartments. Patients in smoke compartments not directly involved in a fire are protected at least temporarily, and those patients in smoke compartments affected by a fire can be moved horizontally, on gurneys if necessary, across smoke barriers into an adjacent smoke compartment. This will buy valuable time before a total evacuation is necessary and depending on the circumstances, the need for a total evacuation.

Smoke barriers are used to separate smoke compartments. Walls and floors designed and constructed as smoke barriers separate adjacent smoke compartments in a building. As the name implies, smoke barriers are intended to restrict the movement of smoke.

Ensuring the ability of smoke barriers to restrict...