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The
International Organization for Standardization ISO and fire-related
activities Fire safety
issues appear in several TCs, but the only one solely dedicated
to the fire field is SC1 - Fire initiation
and growth The fire safety standards addressing the use of combustible materials are mainly produced in SC1, while guidance related to toxicity and the environment is dealt with in SC3. TC 92/SC 1 - Fire initiation and growth has developed many standards intended for prescriptive codes that are used in the European harmonization of building products, railways and in the International Maritime Organization IMO for sea going vessels. Some of the most important standards describing the reaction to fire of products were developed by TC 92 and are used on national and international scale: Non-combustibility (ISO 1182) and heat of combustion (ISO 1716), spread of flame (ISO 5658 and ISO 9239 for floor coverings), rate of heat release (ISO 5660), and smoke (ISO 5660 and ISO 5924). TC 92/SC 3 - Fire threat to people and environment works particularly in the fields of toxicity testing of fire effluents, effects on people from toxic gases, smoke and heat, as well as on environmental effects of fires. The standards are mainly guidance documents and not used in fire regulations. The most important standards developed in SC3 are: lethal toxic potency of fire effluents (ISO 13344), and method for the determination of hazardous components of fire effluents (ISO 19700). The SC3 projects for the coming years are:
While in the past SC1 rather addressed prescriptive fire safety standards, the focus of ISO/TC 92 is now more on performance codes and fire safety engineering. The SC1 and SC3 projects will help to achieve this objective. back to top>>> European Court of Justice annuls Deca-BDE RoHS exemption On April 1st, 2008, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) annulled the decabromodiphenyl ether (Deca-BDE) exemption to the EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, dated October 13th, 2005 (Decision 2005/717/EC), stating that the European Commission used an incorrect criterion, an EU risk assessment as the basis for exemption. This enters into force on July 1, 2008. The decision is an important victory for the European Parliament and Denmark, which brought the case before the Court two years ago. Several other Member States intervened before the Court in support of Denmark: Finland, Sweden, Norway (which is technically not an EU Member State), and Portugal. The court has found that the Commission has neglected to check whether substitutes were available to Deca-BDE and whether substitutes would have more negative effects than continuing with its use. The ECJ ruled that procedural errors, and not a lack of scientific support or safety data has led to the annulment of the exemption. "The Court has found that the Commission used an incorrect criterion, an EU risk assessment, as the basis for exemption since that is not one of the criteria provided for by the RoHS Directive. The Court did not question, nor was it asked to decide on the correctness or otherwise of the risk assessment for Deca-BDE, and that the risk assessment is unaffected by the judgment. It is the RoHS Directive exemption, and only that exemption, which has been annulled and not the risk assessment. This means that flaws in the previous exemption process can be reviewed and corrected. It is important to stress that the exemption remains in force in order to allow this review to be carried out as a matter of urgency," stated former ECJ Judge Sir David Edward, in a comment on the ruling. The consequence of the decision is that users of Deca-BDE will only have three months time to find alternative flame retardants and to change their formulations accordingly before the exemption expires. back to top>>> EU Commission activities regarding the revision of the RoHS Directive The EU Commission
is currently conducting consultations and has commissioned studies
for the revision of the Directive on the restriction of certain
hazardous substances in electric and electronic equipment (EEE,
95/2002/EC). In this context, the Commission has entrusted the German
Institute for Applied Ecology (Öko-Institut) to conduct a study
on "Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment,
not Regulated by the RoHS Directive".
The above mentioned flame retardants are already dealt with in the European risk assessments on existing chemicals. In addition, the list also contains
Öko-Institut
plans to submit its final study to the Commission in early June,
after an "expert workshop" in May 2008. Fire protection of rail vehicles: New European and German developments in 2007 Fire protection of rail vehicles is described in the draft European Technical Specification series CEN/TS 45545 Parts 1 to 7. The European standardisation work started in the 1990ies and is still ongoing, as many parts of the standard were rejected and others are still under revision. In order to speed up the procedure, first all parts will be published as Technical Specifications. It is hoped that they will be adopted by the end of 2007, and that the standard EN 45545 will be published in 2010. The new CEN/TS 45545 is to be referenced in railway directives in order to immediately make methods and classifications compulsory. CEN/TS 45545 Part 2 "Requirements for fire behaviour of materials and components" is also still under enquiry, and is to be adopted in autumn 2007. In CEN/TS 45545-2, heat fluxes of 25 and 50 kW/m² for materials > 0.25 m² or > 100 g in railway interiors are applied for the following tests:
The toxicity requirements concern the following components of fire effluents:
All these requirements do not apply for small parts < 0.25 m² or < 100 g. Therefore, smaller components, particularly electrical parts, will not be affected by these requirements. In Germany, requirements regarding the fire performance, smoke development and dripping apply for materials and components used in rolling stock. To date, there were no German toxicity requirements. However, for allowing German rolling stock to be used immediately in other European countries with toxicity requirements, the new CEN/TS 45545-2 smoke and toxicity requirements and tests foreseen for rail vehicles are about to be nationally introduced in an annex of DIN 5510-2, probably mid-2007. This national regulation will remain effective until EN 45545 is implemented in 2010, and the national standard DIN 5510 withdrawn. back to top>>> New US Mattress Regulation 16 CFR 1633 Taking Fire Out of Bedroom The first new federal flammability regulation for mattresses in more than 30 years took effect on July 1st , 2007, when all mattresses manufactured and sold in the United States had to be resistant to open flame sources, such as candles, matches and cigarette lighters. U.S. mattress producers shipped nearly 24 million new mattresses, according to the International Sleep Products Association, while federal statistics show another 4 million mattress sets were imported. The industry estimates more than 1 000 mattress manufacturers operate in the United States, with possibly an equal number of foreign companies exporting or planning to export. Under the new government regulation 16 CFR Part 1633, mattresses need to withstand exposure to open flame sources for at least 30 minutes. This time span could be instrumental in saving lives, as fire caused by mattresses and bedding is a leading cause of injury and death in the home. "If we're going to make a serious impact on the number of fire-related injuries and fatalities in this country, we have to deal with the flammability of home furnishings," said Jim Milke, a professor in the fire protection engineering department at the University of Maryland. "The mattress is the largest fuel source in your home. By making it more flame-resistant, your odds of surviving a fire increase." On average, 380 people die and 1 580 are injured every year from 12 200 home fires started by bedding and mattresses, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The only fuel source involved in more U.S. fire fatalities is upholstered furniture. Candle fires increasing Mattress fires were last addressed in 1973, when the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) adopted the current 16 CFR 1632 federal flammability regulation for mattresses that requires resistance to lit cigarettes. Fire researchers credit that regulation with helping reduce bedroom fire fatalities by two-thirds between 1980 and 1999. But while smoking materials continue to be the leading source of deadly home fires, incidents involving candles have steadily increased. Candle fires have quadrupled to 16 400 a year over the last decade, with more than 38 % of candle fires occurring in the bedroom, NFPA reports. Another 8 200 fires are started by children playing with candles, matches and cigarette lighters. In fact, CPSC found that more than three-quarters of mattress fire fatalities involved children under age 15. The fire safety
community refers to lighters, matches and candles as "small
open-flame sources," a classification that is different from
smouldering cigarettes and one that was unregulated by prior mattress
flammability requirements. Ongoing research by the National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST) and steadily increasing statistical
data regarding residential fires prompted the mattress industry
to discuss new requirements in flammability regulations with the
CPSC, which eventually led to the new 16 CFR 1633 federal flammability
regulation for mattresses.back to top>>> Wildland fires and new Californian fire safety requirements A wildland fire is an uncontrolled fire that pops up fire often occurring in wildland areas, but which can also consume houses or agricultural resources. Common causes include lightning, human carelessness, arson, volcano eruption, and pyroclastic cloud from active volcano. Statistics show the extent of destruction caused every year by wildland fires: France: 211
km², 0.04% of the territory Wildland fires
threaten urban fringes with communities built in the vicinity of
highly flammable forests. Examples for such catastrophic fires are
the November 1997 Sydney area fire in Australia, and the San Diego
County fire in October 2003, one of the largest fires in California
history, which destroyed 2 232 homes and killed 15 in San Diego
County.
The UWIBS will become effective in January 2008. Homes in "Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones" will have to meet stringent fire tests necessitating the use of flame retarded construction products. Plans for revising the European Construction Products Directive 1. Revision of the Construction Products Directive (CPD) In October 2005, the Commission adopted a Communication on the simplification of the regulatory framework, in which the construction sector was identified as a priority domain. The Commission believes that the CPD only partially eliminates barriers to trade and does not establish optimal conditions allowing the free circulation and use of construction products inside the Community. Therefore, prior to preparing a legislative proposal to simplify the CPD, in 2006, the Commission carried out a wide consultation of interested stakeholders on important features of the Directive. Of the total of 319 replies, the main messages were:
2. Other issues affecting the placing on the market of construction products in the European Union are:
New Flammability Standard for Mattresses in the USA On 16 February
2006, the new mandatory federal flammability standard for mattresses
was approved by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
It will help to reduce the severity of mattress fires, which causes
a $100 million annual impact on the economy. When fully effective,
CPSC estimates the new mandatory standard for mattresses is likely
to save as many as 270 lives, preventing 78 percent of the deaths,
and 1 330, or 84 percent of the injuries currently occurring every
year.
Three minutes
after a conventional mattress is ignited during testing. Three minutes
after a mattress that complies with the new federal mattress standard
is ignited during testing. Rail vehicles fire behaviour requirements: European and German developments Fire safety is specifically covered in the draft European standard series EN 45545 Parts 1 to 7, "Fire Protection on Rail Vehicles". Many parts of the standard were rejected and others are under revision. Therefore, it was decided to adopt all parts as Technical Specifications. A final vote as a complete technical specification for all parts is planned for the end of 2005 or, more likely, for 2006. The new TS 45545 is to be referenced in railway directives in order to make methods and classifications compulsory. TS 45545 Part 2 "Requirements for fire behaviour of materials and components" is currently under enquiry. There are problems with the proposed high heat fluxes of 50 kW/m² for:
In a round robin with heat fluxes of 50 kW/m² materials currently used in the 3 major "railway countries" (France, Germany, Italy) showed a high proportion of rejection without demonstrating a tangible improvement of fire safety levels. These countries therefore propose reducing heat fluxes to 35 kW/m², and to 25 kW/m² for textiles. These fire safety levels would still ensure reasonable fire protection with materials already used for many years in high-speed trains. In Germany, toxicity criteria are in the process of being introduced in the national standard DIN 5510 Part 2 on fire protection in rail vehicles. The reason is that international German trains would not be allowed to circulate in other countries with toxicity requirements like France, Italy and the UK. The smoke toxicity testing devices under consideration are the single chamber smoke box to ISO 5659-2 or the French railway tests to NF F 16-101. It has still not been decided whether the analysis of fire gases will take place by test tubes, chemical analysis or FTIR. Once the standard has been amended, the new toxicity criteria will be published in the German railways approval guideline and become mandatory. back to top>>> Fire Test Procedures Code (FTP code) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and its planned revision The International Maritime Organization IMO has developed fire safety regulations for international commercial ships in the frame of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). In July 1998, IMO introduced the Fire Test Procedures Code (FTP Code), which contains fire test procedures for fire safe constructions and materials used on board of ships. The FTP-Code basically uses fire tests of the International Standards Organization ISO, which cover non-combustibility, fire resistance, flammability, spread of flame, smoke and toxicity of constructions and materials, as well as of specific products like textiles, upholstered furniture and bedding. The tests are summarised in the following table.
A comprehensive review of the FTP Code has started in January 2006 and will be completed in 2008. The objective is to incorporate the most recent versions of ISO standards already contained in the FTP Code and to add new fire test methods:
It is foreseen to amend former fire safety requirements with Resolution IMO A.654(16) and to extend the spread of flame test to ISO 5658-2 by heat release tests like the ISO 5660-1 Cone calorimeter test and the ISO 9705 Full scale room fire test. The revision of the IMO FTP Code will set higher fire safety requirements and thereby improve the protection of ships against catastrop. back to top>>> New US Fire Safety Standard for Mattresses and Rulemaking for Bedclothes 22 December 2004. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted unanimously to issue a proposed safety standard to reduce deaths and injuries from fires involving mattresses. The proposed standard for mattresses addresses fires ignited by an open flame. CPSC also voted to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to develop a separate safety standard to address bedclothes (such as blankets, comforters, and pillows) flammability. From 1995 through 1999, mattresses and bedding were the first items to ignite in an estimated 19 400 residential fires in the USA each year. These fires resulted in an estimated 440 deaths, 2 230 injuries and $273.9 million property losses annually. CPSC staff estimates that most of these deaths and injuries would be addressed by the proposed standard. Fires involving mattresses of traditional construction can reach flashover (when the entire contents of the room ignite) in less than 5 minutes. The proposed mattress standard would limit the size of the fire and prevent or delay the time to flashover. This would allow people more time to discover and escape the fire, reducing deaths and injuries. CPSC staff believe that materials are commercially available that can be used to produce comfortable, practical, and reasonably-priced mattresses with significantly improved fire performance. The CPSC rulemaking
proceeding to set flammability standards for bedclothes will begin
with a notice in the Federal Register requesting public comments
on the fire risks and possible approaches to reducing them. Bedclothes
are the first item to ignite in about 80 percent of mattress and
bedding fires and can contribute substantially to the risks associated
with mattress/bedding fires. Flammability
and ignitability of appliances and requirements to the glow-wire
test
The glow wire standards IEC/CD 60695, Parts 2-11 to 2-13 are currently under revision and comments can be made until September 2005. Germany has forwarded an initiative to define the flames in GWIT. In many cases, corona effects take place which should not be considered as flames. This will help to optimise the test conditions and to avoid doubtful classifications. The glow wire tests are mainly used for European markets - they have not gained any significance in North America so far. back to top>>> The
International Organization for Standardization ISO and fire-related
activities ISO/TC 92 covers fire related activities: Fire issues appear in more than one TC, but only TC 92 is solely dedicated to the fire field. The main objectives of TC 92 are to produce standards in the field of fire safety engineering, at the same time supporting the standards used for prescriptive purposes. TC 92/SC 1 Fire initiation and growth has developed many standards intended for prescriptive codes that are used in the European harmonization of building products, railways and in the International Maritime Organization IMO for sea going vessels. Some of the most important standards developed by TC 92 and used on national and international scale are:
ISO/TC 92 also
examines fire effluents. TC 92/SC 3 works on fire threat to people
and the environment such as the effects of toxic gases, smoke and
heat on people, or specific environmental effects of fires. back
to top>>> Fire safety and certification of E&E products in Europe Basically, there
are several European directives covering E&E and considering
fire safety. The most important ones are the Low Voltage Directive
(LVD), the Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive (EMC), the European
Radio and Telecommunication Terminal Equipment (R&TTE) Directive,
the Machinery Directive, and more generally, the General Product
Safety Directive. CB Test Certificates are today universally recognised also outside the member countries, and have become the prime document for demonstrating product safety in business-to-business trading of electrical equipment. The scheme covers the full scope of low voltage electrical equipment for which IEC standards exist. In the context of the IEC/TC 108 international electrical standardisation activities, a small flame, the so-called needle flame, is most likely to be used as a simulation of a candle flame impinging on external parts of IT and audio/video equipment and household appliances. If accepted, it will become part of the respective standards under the LVD. In addition, lower voltage applications, where to date no requirements applied, will have to meet fire safety requirements. Thus, computer keyboards will have to fulfil the vertical Bunsen burner test to UL 94 in class V1. The use of the cone calorimeter is also under discussion. back to top>>> Fire safety in trains: Europe is looking forward to harmonized standards In the European Union, safety requirements for trans-border high-speed trains have been defined. They are contained in "The Technical Specification for Interoperability (TSI)" and address inter alia "Protection against fire and toxic fumes". Some of the basic requirements for fire safety are:
Fire safety
is specifically covered in the standard series EN 45545 Parts 1
to 7, Fire Protection on Rail Vehicles. Part 2,
which is relevant for plastics used in trains, will be published
as a draft in 2004. The major fire tests to be used, which were
initially proposed in the EU Firestarr-Project, are the following:
The standard EN 45545 is not referred to in the TSI for high-speed trains at the moment and thus not mandatory. However, there
is no doubt that this standard will be referenced in the TSI or
other official documents of the European Commission in the future
and become mandatory. In the context
of the European Construction Products Directive (CPD), the Euroclasses
and the relevant reaction-to-fire tests for surface products (linings)
and floor coverings have been published as standards in 2002. However, there are still problems regarding the testing of "linear products" like pipes, pipe insulation and cables used as building products. It was felt that the Single Burning Item (SBI) test developed for surface products is probably not the best choice for testing linear products like cables. Therefore, the Commission mandated a research programme to develop methods for measuring the fire performance of electric cables (FIPEC). A variant of IEC 332-1 was developed which is a large-scale test in which a cable ladder is installed in a chamber about 4 m high and which has been used internationally for several years. In the FIPEC
procedure, measurement of the heat release rate was added to the
conventional measurement of vertical flame spread. In addition,
limit values for the smoke production, creation of burning droplets
and the acidity of the smoke in additional classes were proposed. Reference scenarios from the FIPEC project were selected and limit values for heat release, flame spread etc. in the test methods used for the actual classification itself (six fire classes) proposed. The study was submitted to the European Group of Fire Regulators, FRG, at the beginning of September, 2003 and approved by the Group subject to a couple of adjustments, which should be finalized in 2004. Only one larger change was made, in the form of an additional fire class, added for market reasons. Therefore, the seven fire classes shown here are to be introduced. back to top>>>
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