DA05 Guide to Fire and Smoke Control in Buildings using AS 1668 Part 1


DA05 Guide to Fire and Smoke Control in Buildings using AS 1668 Part 1 is a new Design Application (DA) manual in AIRAH’s collection of technical resources.


How can this DA manual help?

The primary purpose of DA05 is to promote the correct design, installation, and commissioning of smoke control systems within the HVAC industry. The overall objective is to assist industry in applying AS 1668.1 correctly and to improve the outcomes of smoke control applications in HVAC and associated industries by providing technical guidance on the following issues:

  • The purpose and application of fire and smoke control
  • Selection, design, and development of a smoke control system
  • Fire protection of openings
  • System activation and operation
  • Testing and commissioning smoke control systems.

This DA manual will help to underpin the skills and update the knowledge of HVAC&R system designers, installers, operators, and maintainers and improve the accessibility of best practice HVAC fire and smoke control design, installation, and operating information.

Released in August 2021, DA05 covers:
  • Purpose and application of fire and smoke control 
  • Introduction to AS 1668.1-2015
  • Selecting a smoke control system 
  • Designing a smoke control system 
  • Developing a smoke control system 
  • Fire protection of openings
  • System activation and operation  
  • Testing and commissioning smoke control systems.

DA05 is designed for:

This manual has been designed to provide a complete overview of fire and smoke control in building mechanical ventilation and HVAC. It begins with an examination of how, why, and where smoke and fires spread in a building. 

The fundamental principles and methods of smoke control are explained, and DA05 explores how AS 1668.1 applies different “methods” in various smoke control “systems”.

DA05 focuses on the application of AS 1668.1 in accordance with the Deemed-to-Satisfy solutions of the National Construction Code, and explores in detail the design, installation, testing, and commissioning requirements for NCC compliant systems.

Pricing 

  AIRAH members  Non-members
Digital access
 FREE N/A
Hard copy
 $79 $229
Hard copy package
(DA05 + DA06)
$118 $418

GST included


Access the digital version  |  Order a hard copy


You can also save on your hard copy order of DA05 when you bundle it with DA06 Guide to Fire, Smoke and Air Dampers using AS 1682 Parts 1 & 2. Please click here for more information on this package.

About DA05


DA05 is AIRAH’s Design Application manual on fire and smoke control in buildings. It is the guide to using and applying AS 1668.1-2015 The use of ventilation and air conditioning in buildings. Part 1: Fire and smoke control in buildings. 

While HVAC&R systems are important, ubiquitous, and can have health impacts, there are only a few things in building services that can mean instant life or death. Smoke control systems are vital. 

Smoke can kill people. For many years, building regulations have set down minimum life-safety requirements intended to minimise the hazard from smoke in certain buildings. Yes, fire and smoke can spread via HVAC systems – but ventilation systems can also be used to control smoke movement and restrict the spread of fire. AS 1668.1 provides these solutions.

Smoke produced by a fire that has developed inside the confines of a building can quickly cause untenable conditions for occupants trying to escape. With its high temperatures, toxic content, and impairment to vision, smoke is generally the most dangerous aspect of a fire from an occupant’s perspective. The smoke also creates a challenge for attending emergency services personnel who are trying to conduct search and rescue operations and find and extinguish the heart of the fire.

Smoke control systems are designed to control smoke during a fire event, to contain the smoke danger, and allow the building to be safely evacuated. They are essential, considering:

  • Fires in buildings are a common occurrence and cause of human fatality.
  • Smoke from a fire in a typical building can rapidly spread to other parts of the building, even parts distant from the seat of the fire.
  • Toxic smoke inhalation causes more fire-related deaths than fires themselves – up to two times the number of fatalities.
  • The safety of building occupants and emergency services personnel overwhelmingly depends on how the building performs during a fire event, including the control of smoke.
  • Smoke inhalation remained the leading cause of fire death in Australia in 2018.

Smoke control or smoke hazard management is a very serious business. These are real systems that can save real people in real fire events.

DA05 provides a holistic overview of smoke control in buildings, as applied by Australian Standard AS 1668.1-2015 The use of ventilation and air conditioning in buildings. Part 1: Fire and Smoke control in buildings. It covers the basic fundamentals behind the six “methods” of smoke control and outlines how and where AS 1668.1 applies these various methods depending on the smoke control strategy called for by the building and building regulations.

AS 1668.1 also covers controlling fire spread in a building (via HVAC systems) by applying fire dampers, sub ducts, and fire rated shafts and enclosures to maintain the required building fire (and smoke) compartmentation and the Fire Resistance Level (FRL) of the penetrated fire barriers.

This manual is based on a training program developed by AIRAH members with over 100-years of combined experience participating on the Standards Australia technical committee responsible for AS 1668.1. 

DA05 is an essential companion to AS 1668.1-2015 and is a must read for anyone involved in smoke control in buildings.





This page was last updated December 21, 2021