FPA achieves accreditation for extended suite of fire resistance tests

The Fire Protection Association is pleased to announce that it is now UKAS accredited to carry out EN1366-3 testing, extending the scope of the fire resistance testing available at its laboratory facilities in Gloucestershire.

A commonly reported problem by fire risk assessors is the breaching of fire compartmentation by service penetrations such as ducting, cables, and pipes.

The test standard for adequate fire stopping where services penetrate compartmentation is EN1366-3, which provides a high level of rigour to the evaluation of such systems. Meeting this standard provides assurance to designers, building authorities, and building owners regarding the products being used in a system.

With the addition of this accreditation, the FPA is now UKAS accredited for an expanded suite of fire resistance tests using two fire resistance test furnaces installed in collaboration with global safety science leader, UL Solutions, as reported earlier this summer.

The addition of this standard to the scope of accreditation means that the FPA is now UKAS accredited to conduct the following fire resistance standards:

• BS 476 Part 20 Fire resistance test (general) for building materials and structures
• BS 476 Part 22 Fire resistance test for doorsets
• BS EN 1364-1 Fire resistance test for walls and partitions
• BS EN 1634-1 Fire resistance and smoke control tests for door and shutter assemblies, openable windows and elements of building hardware
• EN1366-3 Fire stopping of service penetrations
• EN 1366-4 Fire resistance test for building materials and structures (excluding seal test with movement)

Expanding the capabilities at the FPA’s versatile and comprehensive fire testing and research facilities, the installed furnaces can reach temperatures in excess of 1000°C. The large scale (4x3m) vertical furnace and small scale (1.5x1.5m) vertical and horizontal furnace support manufacturers and construction companies who require independent fire testing of proposed systems.

As Commercial Director at the FPA, Chris Miles, explains, “The addition of EN 1366-3 is a further step in the development of the FPA being able to offer fire resistance tests. This allows our laboratory to meet the increasingly demanding needs of the UK construction sector, from initial concept, through R&D, to type testing of a finalised system in support of a specific application or third-party product certification.

“The demands of today’s construction sector mean that specific penetration systems are often needed to be tested prior to approval by the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) and the addition of this test method into the FPA’s scope will add further, much needed testing capability in the UK.”

For more details of the FPA’s accredited testing services, visit the website.