CORRECT FIRE TEST DOCUMENTATION IS VITAL, WARNS DHF

Article first published 21/06/2005

Ensure that all industrial and commercial fire doors and shutters carry the correct documentation to prove they have been appropriately verified. This is the strong recommendation to specifiers, contractors and building control officers from the Door and Hardware Federation (DHF).  
 
The federation says verification ideally should be in the form of certification, or doors and shutters can be verified if they have undergone the appropriate testing or assessment.  
 
The advice follows the successful outcome of discussions between the DHF and fire certification authorities which has resulted in approved certification schemes for both products and installation being put in place.  
 
When specifying a fire product, ensure that the door supplier offers third party accreditation and product certification, both of which provide complete traceability through the labelling applied to the product. This gives a significant degree of comfort to the specifier who wants to ensure the fire resisting doors he chooses are of the correct design and have been properly installed.  
 
BRE Certification, through its organisation the LPCB, has schemes for certified products and installation which have been recently updated to respond to the changing needs of the passive fire protection industry. Certifire, a scheme from Warrington Certification Ltd, one of the leading fire testing organisations, also covers certification of fire tested products. And FIRAS, which is an independent third party scheme, certifies the installation of fire doors and shutters.  
 
Ray Nowell, technical officer for the DHF, said: “We have been actively working with both Certifire and BRE in the development of these important certification schemes and we are delighted they are in place. All member companies of the DHF offering fire-tested products will in future be able to show documentation that their products are covered by one or both of the schemes. Certification is certainly the preferred route, and specifiers, contractors and building control officers should look for this in the first instance.  
 
“The federation has worked long and hard to ensure that the many new standards and regulations coming into force work to the benefit of the industry and serve to raise levels of safety and quality. Now that the schemes are in place, which relate to fire safety and product performance, our members are ideally placed to offer products that specifiers, contractors and building control officers know will be certified and fit for purpose.”  
 
He said the fire related documentation to look for will be in the form of certificates of quality and performance to established standards, test reports, showing how the door or shutter has performed when tested to the relevant standard, or oversize assessments which give an opinion of how the product would perform if it was tested to the relevant standard.  
 
Specifiers, contractors and building control officers should also check all documentation is relevant, complete and that it is appropriate for the product as installed.  
 
For more information about the DHF and fire test documentation, contact the DHF secretary, 42 Heath Street, Tamworth, Staffs B79 7JH. Phone: 01827 52337. Fax: 01827 310827. Email: info@dhfonline.org.uk

Article ID No.: 115