Ok, when was the last time anyone on board died due to smoke in the cabin whilst in flight?
That is completely the wrong question to ask in prudent risk management and I have not got a clue as to the answer.
When did a lifevest last save an airline passenger? Same answer.
If we are talking risk management, the probability is extremely low and the incident severity is potentially fatal, so it must be considered. Note the select committee comment that the chief accident investigator travelled with his own smoke hood, he might just know a bit about aviation risks.
However, it is completely irrelevant to my argument, which is that the provision of smokehoods cannot be justified by the extremely low probability of occurence, so we accept the risk if we wish to travel by air.
This trade off, accepted by airlines and passengers alike, demonstrates that safety is not the number one priority, but a competing factor in a carefully crafted set of trade offs.
I agree with extrang when he says the airline industry has performed excellently in this aspect.