Product category:
Walls
News Release from: Eurobond Laminates | Subject: Fire safety reform
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 06 February 2006
Fire safety reform and specification of
materials
Fire and safety Richard Price, technical manager of Eurobond, explains why new fire safety reform will change the specification of materials.
Fire and safety Richard Price, technical manager of Eurobond, explains why new fire safety reform will change the specification of materials The biggest single reform of fire safety legislation in over 30 years has now been agreed by Parliament
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 21 Apr 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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Anyone involved in building might simply say 'good'.
However, there is a rub and the rub cannot be ignored.
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Dramatically, this means that the responsibility for fire safety is neatly handed back to the employer or 'responsible person;' for the building or premises.
He or she will be required to assess the risk of fire and take steps to reduce or remove them.
Designers, contractors, owners and occupiers will ignore all this at their peril because imprisonment for professional indemnity infringement and corporate responsibility for manslaughter are becoming very serious issues.
Designing against fire In April next, fire safety will therefore become a major issue.
The onus will be on the specifier and the end user to minimise fire risk for the building in general and to maximise the safety of its occupants.
That risk is dramatically minimised when products 'fit for purpose' are specified.
In reality, it is better and more effective to design-in non-combustible products rather than relying on building management and human endeavour to lower the fire risk.
One of the problems in the building industry is terminology and the claims of manufacturers.
With the threat of prison and other dire consequences, the specifier must begin to look even closer as the 'small print'.
He or she must take a view and make quite sure than materials specified are indeed 'fit for purpose'.
Nowhere is this more critical, and the subject of much debate, than in the specification of internal firewalls.
For example, many factories are built with walls that have oil-based foam cores (such as PIR, PUR and EPS) and are believed to be non-combustible.
As many fires have proved, these are combustible, are not smokeproof and therefore hazardous.
In addition, stitching of panel joints, fixing cover strips and the use of intumescent seals, required for foam-cored panels to provide an acceptable level of fire resistance will make the system more expensive to purchase and install.
Conversely, by their very nature, mineral fibre composite panels offer the specifier the security of knowing that they are non-combustible, smokesafe and offer excellent 'passive' fire protection because of their high levels of inherent fire resistance.
The Association of Insurers issue Briefing notes which deal with risk management and one in particular emphasises the benefits of fire resisting compartment walls.
As we all know, compartmentation reduces the spread of fire.
It restricts the passage of smoke, saves lives and reduces damage to stored goods and production areas.
The main applications in the LPC Design Guide for the Fire Protection of Buildings are from 90 to 240 minutes fire resistance (both integrity and insulation).
This tends to restrict the choice to sandwich panel systems with high density rock fibre mineral wool cores.
No current foam-based cored panels (such as PIR) are able to deliver this level of fire resistance.
The danger of arson is also highlighted.
According to ABI, over a 5 year period, nearly 80% of claims attributed directly to external cladding were due to arson - with the majority of fire attack started from the outside.
There is a potential weakness in products tests to Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) LPS1181 which, in its basic form, only tests reaction to fire.
A mineral wool cored panel, for example, tested to BS 476 Part 22 can provide superior fire resistance for fire attack from both inside and outside the building.
Clearly both fire safety reform coupled with the increasing rise in anti-social behaviour will force the specifier to give better consideration to the extension of external walls in order to ensure that they are made fire-resisting.
Readers may be interested in the DLE report by well-known quantity surveyors David Langdon and Everest into the cost benefits of non-combustible design.
The report looks at the comparative costs of two external cladding and roofing systems - comparing panels with foam-based cores and those with mineral fibre cores.
Clearly, all this is vital to correct specification because the capital costs of materials, speed of erection and insurance premiums impact hugely on building and running costs.
Case studies Fortunately, if that is the right word, there have been many high profile fires recently which give a unique opportunity to study and compare performance of different materials.
Many of these fires are in the food manufacturing and processing industry such as the Trebor Bassett factory (ignited by a faulty popcorn machine) and the Branston Pickle works; the Global Industries warehouse fire closed the M25 for days.
Clearly, it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel.
Studies of live projects like these, and how others have solved the problem, together with insurer, Fire Brigade or end user analysis of what happened in actual fires, is all that is necessary to confirm that that the right non-combustible choice is made and that fire risk is minimised or eliminated.
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