Staff at Ductbusters have been praised by Kent’s Darent Valley Hospital for their courteousness and meticulousness during their testing and cleaning of fire dampers in the ducting at the Dartford healthcare facility.
Ductbusters sales director Ian Wall said: “Fire can spread rapidly through ducting systems, particularly in large buildings featuring many kilometres of ductwork. Installed at regular intervals, fire dampers are designed to drop down in case of fire to prevent it spreading further. Having them regularly tested and cleaned is thus an essential part of any hospital’s maintenance programme.” “The challenge for our operatives here was that the testing had to be conducted throughout the facility, including wards, theatres, and administrative areas. The team worked around the hospital’s operating patterns, but, even so, this meant literally working around patients, and alongside staff in their offices. The team also undertook a comprehensive clean of the kitchen extract system.” Les Beeching, senior mechanical engineer at FM services provider to the hospital Carillion, said: “I received calls from many departments saying how meticulous and hard-working the two guys carrying out the testing were, and some from people concerned about testing in live areas where patients and visitors were. However, after the job’s completion, all were delighted with both the cleanliness achieved, and the team’s courteousness.”
