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The Timber Industry Yearbook 2011 Timber Research And Development Association www.trada.co.uk
Fire
Fire doors: seeing the end game Mark Cummings, deputy technical manager of Chiltern International Fire, discusses the role of fire testing in the overall design of a building Understanding the logistics of how components come together to make an end product, whether it’s a fire-rated doorset or a finished building, is an important part of fire resistance testing. Contrary to popular perception, testing is not solely an end in itself and the test process could contribute so much more if the project team were to consider fire testing as integral to the whole build process, almost a ‘necessary evil’. Firefighters tackle a blaze in a heritage building
Building owners and developers are often faced with a legal requirement to ensure products such as partitions, ceilings, fire curtains, penetration seals, glazing and fire retardant coatings will resist the passage of fire and/or control its spread. Fire performance for individual construction products is proven through destructive fire testing and assessment, while their required location and level of fire performance is determined by legislation, codes of practice or the accepting authority.
Testing and fire safety Fire testing of individual products is and will remain absolutely essential. We as a company have welcomed a change in mindset among manufacturers and others who are looking beyond the narrow parameters of a prescriptive fire test for more all-encompassing evidence of product performance. Increasingly, it is no longer satisfactory for a fire door simply to work at building handover. It needs to come with evidence that it will continue to perform well into the warranty period of the building and beyond. There are a number of reasons for this, but for project managers one of the most important is the way the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO) has changed quite significantly the approach to fire safety in buildings since it came into effect four years ago. Now, all premises must have a Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) encompassing all aspects of fire safety within a building, carried out by a designated responsible person. It will report back any significant findings and it will be the duty of the responsible person to ensure that the findings are acted on and implemented. However, it will not detail exactly how to mitigate any particular perceived risk or problem with respect to substandard active and passive fire protection measures. It is our observation that the frequency of which the question “does this provide satisfactory protection in the event of a fire?” is asked has increased dramatically. Products are generally tested in a certain number of configurations in order to cover as many of the expected end uses as possible, but inevitably not everything can be covered. In the past, it was generally our experience that specifiers and controlling authorities were often prepared to accept ‘best match’ evidence. However, increasingly, this is not the case. As the complexity of the problem grows then manufacturers and installers more frequently have to step outside the bounds of their direct test evidence and use their products in non-standard applications.