Smoke control or life-safety equipment not recognized
If equipment might be smoke control or life-safety related, stop and identify it before connecting, blocking, sealing, or rerouting around it. Recognition is the rescue move here.
I am working near [describe equipment/location] and I am not sure if it is smoke-control or life-safety equipment. It has [describe label/actuator/wiring/tag]. Can you confirm what it is before I connect to it or route duct near it?
Watch out
Do not modify, seal, block, or reroute smoke-control or life-safety equipment without direction.
Check
Look for indicators such as labels reading smoke control, life safety, stairwell pressurization, dedicated controls wiring, special actuator labels, fail-open/fail-closed markings, or color coding used by that job.
If you see any sign that the equipment may be life-safety related and you are not sure what it does, do not connect, modify, block, or touch it until it is confirmed.
Check the mechanical drawing and life-safety/smoke-control notes in that area. These items are often tagged differently from normal HVAC equipment.
If you already ran duct near something you are now unsure about, leave it as-is until verified. Do not undo or modify work without direction either.
Take a photo of the tag, actuator, label, wiring, and surrounding duct so the foreman can identify it quickly.
Steps
Look for indicators such as labels reading smoke control, life safety, stairwell pressurization, dedicated controls wiring, special actuator labels, fail-open/fail-closed markings, or color coding used by that job.
If you see any sign that the equipment may be life-safety related and you are not sure what it does, do not connect, modify, block, or touch it until it is confirmed.
Check the mechanical drawing and life-safety/smoke-control notes in that area. These items are often tagged differently from normal HVAC equipment.
If you already ran duct near something you are now unsure about, leave it as-is until verified. Do not undo or modify work without direction either.
Take a photo of the tag, actuator, label, wiring, and surrounding duct so the foreman can identify it quickly.
Say this to your foreman
I am working near [describe equipment/location] and I am not sure if it is smoke-control or life-safety equipment. It has [describe label/actuator/wiring/tag]. Can you confirm what it is before I connect to it or route duct near it?