TI - 0401
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Fire Resistance
Testing, Assessment & Certification
1 Introduction
In many buildings there is a requirement for products, such as doors, screens, partitions,
ceilings, etc, to resist the passage of fire. These products help to control the spread of fire,
protecting life and property by allowing occupants to escape and the fire services to gain access
to fight the fire.
The location and period of fire resistance required for construction products is determined by the
relevant legislation, codes of practice or the accepting authority.
•
•
Fire resistance is proven through destructive fire testing and by assessment.
Third party certification demonstrates consistency of manufacture which, in combination
with test evidence, provides the confidence that every product will perform as expected.
2 Testing
2.1 The Standards
A number of test standards are used to show
the performance of a product or construction
under a generalised fire situation. There are
British Standards (the BS 476: Part 20
series) and harmonised European
Standards (BS ENs) for different types of
building element, eg:
•
•
•
•
•
Doors and partitions
Walls
Floors and roofs
Beams and columns
Ceilings
BS 476: Part 22 / BS EN 1634-1
BS 476: Part 21* / BS EN 1364-1 and 1365-1*
BS 476: Part 21* / BS EN 1365-2*
BS 476: Part 23
BS EN 1364-2
*Load bearing
2.2 The Method (BS 476: Part 22 & BS EN 1634-1)
The tests are designed to replicate the products intended end-use ie doors are built into an
appropriate supporting construction.
The specimen and any relevant supporting construction is built into a 3m x 3m restraint frame
which is mounted on the front of a furnace. The temperature within the furnace is controlled
according to an internationally-accepted time/temperature regime (see overleaf).
The time/temperature and pressure regime
within the standard is intended to simulate a
post flashover condition. Flashover is the
point at which all objects in the fire
compartment have ignited.
In a real fire, the time period to flashover can
be extremely long or extremely short. It is
controlled by aspects such as the nature of
the fire load, compartment size and shape
and the available ventilation. Given the
unknown time to flashover, it is therefore
only reasonable to simulate a fire test from the point of flashover and to ignore the fire growth
period.
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Temperature (°C)
1000
Flas
1200
BS 476: Part 22:
800
600
400
Growth
200
Fully Developed Phase
Decay Phase
0
-20
0
20
40 (minutes)60
Time
80
100
Figure 1: The BS 476 & EN 1364-1 time temperature curve plotted against a real fire curve, showing the point of flashover
Testing is continued for the required duration - 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes etc
- or until the specimen fails and it is no longer safe to continue. Failure
relates to integrity, insulation and load-bearing capacity (if appropriate).
Integrity failure is determined by 3 criteria:
•
•
•
Cotton pad - this shows that gases passing through the specimen are
sufficiently hot to ignite combustible material on the non-fire side and
therefore spread the fire
Gap gauges - these measure the width of gaps in the specimen and
must remain below prescribed levels
Continuous flaming - simply the fact that sustained flaming has
occurred on the non-fire side
A DVD describing fire resistance testing is available from Chiltern International Fire Ltd (CIFL),
telephone +44 (0) 1494 569800 or email tgregory@chilternfire.co.uk to request a free copy.
2.3 The Report
Once a product has been tested, a report will be issued that will contain all the construction details of the tested specimen
together with information on the size and configuration of the test sample. The test report itself is a purely factual document,
stating times to failure of the specimen. Other relevant information such as observations taken by the test engineers, graphs
showing furnace and specimen temperatures and distortions (if applicable) will also be contained within the final test report.
It is important to understand that the test standards are documents that
detail a testing procedure only, they are not documents that detail how to
manufacture ‘deemed to satisfy’ fire resisting constructions. Therefore, it is
possible to submit any make-up of construction for testing and, provided
that it meets the minimum fire resistance periods using the appropriate test
method, it may be marketed as a fire resisting construction for that given
period.
2.4 The Process
The actual process of testing is relatively straight-forward, simply submit a
specimen and Chiltern Fire will install it within a suitable structural surround
and test it! However, what size and configuration to test is a little more
complicated .
See Assessments on next page.
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3 Assessments
Test reports only relate to what has been tested and allow no variations.
Changes to a construction tested under the British or European standards
will either require another fire test or an assessment.
An assessment is a desktop study undertaken by an experienced fire
consultant that allows variations from a tested design. The nature and
scope of any variations will largely depend on the size and configuration
of the test specimen.
Therefore, it is important that discussions take place between the client
and the testing laboratory before testing takes place to establish the client’s requirements for the complete product range
they want to sell to the market. The laboratory will advise whether a single test is appropriate or whether a series of tests
will be required to meet the intended end-use applications.
Once the test programme has been completed (and all results are successful), Chiltern Fire is able to write a global
assessment report that will bring together all the various items of test data into a single document. The global assessment
reports become the documents that the client will trade from, as these reports will clearly explain the full scope of the
product.
Project specific assessments can also be produced which are tailored to the specific
needs of a building project.
Assessments cover the following aspects of design:
1. How to adjust the leaf dimensions and whether leaf size adjustment is
appropriate.
2. The use of overpanels and how to install them.
3. Increases in leaf dimensions (height and width).
4. Changes in doorset configurations (single leaf, double leaf, single acting,
double acting).
5. The use of and installation of glazed apertures.
6. The option to use various glass types.
7. Door frame variations if appropriate.
8. Smoke control requirements
These rules are described in further detail in TI - 0402: Fire Resistance - Design Considerations
4 Third Party Certification
Once all the evidence is in place, and any assessment report has been
prepared, the manufacture of the product may be undertaken as part of a
quality management system audited by a third party. This will ensure that
the quality of the product, when sold to an end-user is of a similar quality to
that tested, and will be able to achieve the minimum stated fire resistance
period that has been tested and claimed. Such inspections of manufacture
are carried out through a third party accreditation.
The complete manufacturing process must be quality controlled to the relevant ISO standard (or similar system), with the
process audited yearly to ensure that areas such as calibration, handling of material, stock control and documentation are all
controlled appropriately. Further audit testing of the product is also required as a part of this type of accreditation scheme
every three years, which will physically highlight any weak areas in the manufacturing process of the product.
BM TRADA operates ‘Q-Mark’ certification schemes for fire door manufacture, fabrication and installation.
Q-Marked fire doors are marked as being accredited by BM TRADA
using colour-coded plastic plugs.
Further details can be found on the BM TRADA website - www.bmtrada.com
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5 Timescales
Testing process
For a company that is
having to prove all of
their products with no
existing or relevant test
data, the timescales
from initially contacting
the test laboratory to
ending up with a fully
tested product which is
third party accredited,
could be quite lengthy.
This may depend on the
number of products
that need to be tested.
The flow chart on the
right describes the
process.
Contact Chiltern International
Fire Ltd (CIFL)
The process of
achieving a quality
control status within
the main production
can begin immediately,
but may take up to 12
months to complete.
Similarly, development
of the testing
programme and the
organisation of the
physical tests can take
several months. This is
particularly likely if
development work is
required to further
engineer products to
withstand the testing
procedures.
Third party accreditation process
Establish which products are
to be covered in which
scheme and ensure relevant
test evidence/permissions
are in place
Establish the product range
with CIFL
With the advice of CIFL,
re-engineer the products if
appropriate
YES
Is an
ISO or
equivalent quality
management
system in
place?
NO
Establish a testing programme
Contact BM TRADA to
establish the
suitability of
existing accreditation
Manufacture and submit for
the required testing
requirements
Contact BM TRADA to
discuss the
options for ISO
audits
Establish a process with
BM TRADA to achieve ISO
accreditation
Conduct the fire resistance
tests - these may include
indicative research tests as
well as full scale testing
NO
Were the tests
successful?
YES
Commission CIFL to
prepare a
global assessment
Ensure that satisfactory
procedures are in place
(from the ordering of materials
to the production of the end
product)
Conduct initial audit to obtain
membership to the relevant
scheme
Assuming successful initial
audit, audit the factory on an
annual basis
Contacts
Evidence of performance
Testing
Mark Cummings on + 44 (0) 1494 569846 or email mcummings@chilternfire.co.uk
Consultancy
Peter Barker on + 44 (0) 1494 569833 or email pbarker@chilternfire.co..uk
Certification
Simon Beer on + 44 (0) 1494 569821 or email sbeer@bmtrada.com
Audit testing of the product
every 3 years
Third party accreditation
Chiltern International Fire Ltd
Stocking Lane
Hughenden Valley
High Wycombe
HP14 4ND
BM TRADA Certification
Stocking Lane
Hughenden Valley
High Wycombe
HP14 4NR
t: + 44 (0) 1494 569800
f: + 44 (0) 1494 564895
w: www.chilternfire.co.uk
t: + 44 (0) 1494 569700
f: + 44 (0) 1494 565487
w: www.bmtrada.com
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