As a UKAS-accredited testing organisation Chiltern International Fire (CIF) is well placed to observe trends in testing. And, while fire testing of individual products is and will remain absolutely essential, manufacturers and others are looking beyond the narrow parameters of a prescriptive fire test for more all-encompassing evidence of product performance. 

Historically, a single fire test was enough to satisfy the end user but in today’s market this is often simply not enough. Solutions are required to more complex problems, and the demands for clear information/guarantees of fitness for purpose are increasing.

No longer is it satisfactory for a fire door to simply work at building handover. The building contractor and building owner want confidence that it will continue to perform well into the warranty period of the building and beyond.

Why are we seeing demands upon product manufacturers increasing like this? There are a number of reasons. Firstly, the more sophisticated the products become the more undermined is the users’ confidence in them. A good example of this is in situations where traditional glazed screens and partitions are replaced by retractable fire barrier curtains. The product is novel and less experience exists among end users. 

As a result, users demand greater levels of fit-for-purpose demonstrations. This has led to forward-thinking manufacturers within this industry working to develop new publicly available specifications, to ensure that all aspects of the product’s performance can be adequately demonstrated. 

This shortcuts the traditional process of gaining confidence from experience, and allows the widespread use of novel solutions whilst maintaining (or improving) the fire risk profiles of buildings.

A second reason is that manufacturers themselves are raising the bar. In order to gain a competitive advantage they are looking outside the fire performance test to find other areas where their product can demonstrate advantages over its competition. The result is that the competitive advantage of today becomes the industry norm of tomorrow, leading to ever increasing pressure on manufacturers to meet these new demands. The importance of the third driver for change should not be underestimated. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO), which came into effect in England and Wales in October 2006, has changed significantly the approach to fire safety in buildings.

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 reports back any significant findings and it is the duty of the responsible person to ensure that the findings are acted on. However, it does not detail exactly how to mitigate any particular perceived risk or problem with respect to sub-standard active and passive fire protection measures.

It is our observation that the frequency in which the question, “Does this provide satisfactory protection in the event of a fire?” is asked, has increased dramatically. The responsible individual and those with delegated responsibility need easy access to the answers and if these answers are not forthcoming they are less prepared than ever to accept the product or installation.

By looking at the requests that come to us, at Chiltern International Fire, we can begin to identify three main areas that product manufacturers and solution providers are being asked to address:

* Communication of information.

* Site specific detailing.

* Overall fitness for purpose beyond fire performance.

Manufacturers are responding in a number of ways in each of these areas but certain approaches are consistent among them.

Communication of information

The need to communicate the capabilities of a product has always been important but with the introduction of new proving methods, including European fire resistance and reaction to fire tests, and the ever increasing diversity of test evidence, it is becoming very difficult to rely on producing the test reports alone and expecting them to be easily read and digested by the end user.

Manufacturers have recognised this and increasingly, often with the support of technical experts such as Chiltern International Fire, they have looked to consolidate their evidence into documents that are easier to handle and comprehend. Over the last two years we have seen documents and technical manuals produced in many sectors including, most notably, the door and glass industry. 

To further develop product understanding and communicate important messages, clients of Chiltern Fire have been keen to stage demonstration days to their key clients and regulating authorities from both inside and outside the UK. These practical demonstration days leave a lasting impression on those watching, as often they have not had the opportunity to witness the rigorous testing undertaken as part of the product approval process.

And the final part of the communication jigsaw is often filled by third-party product certification. This serves to take concerns out of the hands of specifiers and end users by providing a third-party independent review of a manufacturer’s ongoing capabilities of manufacturing fire products under their scope of approval. 

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 specifiers and controlling authorities who 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. 

One of the areas of fire protection where this will often occur is in the field of fire stopping and fire sealing. It is rare to see a site configuration of service penetrations that has comprehensive, equivalent test evidence. There is a growing trend among regulating authorities to ask for additional evidence to support the application. If the trends continue this will commonly mean specialised tests will be set up to replicate site conditions. 

Chiltern Fire has recently undertaken work of this type. While it was clear that the site-installed protection systems did not recognisably replicate the variations originally tested, it was evident that the product manufacturer’s knowledge and understanding would ensure that the planned installation was more than capable of achieving the desired levels of performance.

Another trend on the increase is the use of registered installers. In the past, installer schemes have existed for specialist materials such as fire protective coatings, but now we are seeing them develop in what were previously considered less specialised fields of installation, such as doorsets. Fire products are only as good as their installation. A site survey by Chiltern Fire identified a situation where over 100 doorsets, all of which had complete test evidence to support them, had been rendered unsatisfactory because of inappropriate installation. These installation issues had reduced their likely performance from 30 minutes to around 12 minutes.

Registered installer schemes ensure that installation is undertaken by competent individuals who have received expert training in the intricacies of the fire protection product concerned.

Overall fitness for purpose

In the past, products often had one primary purpose and this often meant serious compromises with respect to their performance. For example, fire doors that resisted fire were often heavy and not very durable. Today, products have to be a “jack of all trades”. 

Fire-rated coatings are expected to resist in excess of 800 ºC but they must also be hardwearing and aesthetically pleasing. Fire doors must resist fire, but may also have to provide good levels of acoustic performance in areas of high foot traffic. Glass floors might be required to provide light and architectural effect, but may also be required to resist a fully developed fire scenario.

On an almost daily basis we help clients achieve performance in more that one area with their products, eg it is becoming commonplace for doorsets to require testing for both security and fire resistance. And it is not just the performance of additional specialised aspects of the product that are being considered. Manufacturers are doing significant amounts of work on the more mundane aspects of performance such as basic durability.

Some years ago, our sister company Chiltern Dynamics developed a test programme to prove the long-term durability of doors and we are now working with clients to combine this with fire testing. We have already released results of testing carried out for a leading provider of timber-based fire door products. The company approached Chiltern to develop a test matrix to demonstrate that even in high traffic conditions such as hospitals the doors would continue to perform throughout their service life.

If we were to gaze into the future, all indicators suggest that considering many aspects of product performance (and the process of communicating this performance to the end user) will need to become an integral part of the product manufacturers’ thought process – and European harmonisation supports this. 

Conclusion

Expectations of products are rising. Products have to prove fitness for purpose, information on them has to be readily available and easy to understand, and there has to be confidence that the right solution has been applied for the particular application. 

With fire safety being taken more seriously than ever before – and with more manufacturers seeking to differentiate their products by pushing the bar higher – the challenge is for others to keep up. This trend combined with increasing vigilance from responsible authorities can only be positive for developers and building owners and reassuring for building users and occupiers.

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