CONSTRUCTION FIXINGS
CE marking on cartridges for powder actuated tools
Barbara Sorgato, secretary to the European Consortium of Anchor Producers, considers how developments on norms for cartridges for powder actuated tools now ensures their interchangeability, opening the market while at the same time safeguarding the final user.
P
owder actuated tools and cartridges have for a long time been united under the same norms through the C.I.P., the Commission Internationale Permanente pour l’Epreuve des Armes à Feu Portatives (Permanent
International Commission for Firearms Testing). The C.I.P. is an International organisation composed of 14
member states, mainly European, who wish to guarantee that every civil firearm and all ammunition sold in C.I.P. member states are safe for users. However, powder actuated tools are designed for industrial or technical purposes, and belong to the construction sector, not to the firearms field. For this reason big companies have lobbied to have powder actuated tools in Europe recognised under the Machinery Directive, and consequently regulated according to CEN norms. With the 2006 revision of the EC Machinery
Directive (2006/42/EC), powder actuated tools were finally considered as machinery, and since 2011 they have their own
norm for CE marking, the
European standard EN 15895. ECAP members worked on this standard together with multinationals active in this sector.
However, powder actuated tools cannot be operated without
their main part: fixing cartridges: the two products cannot be used without the other. Putting a CE marking on a powder actuated tool without marking its cartridges is like putting a CE marking on a mobile phone without marking its battery. That is the reason why it was extremely important that fixing cartridges, which until 2007 were not considered and comprehended in any European Directive, found their own Directive of reference. In 2007 they were so included in the Directive 2007/23/EC on
pyrotechnic articles, a directive that sets out safety requirements for establishments where explosives, including pyrotechnic substances, are present. It applies, to be clear, to fireworks but also to pyrotechnic articles for technical purposes, such as gas generators used in airbags or in seatbelt pretensioners - and to fixing cartridges. According to the Directive, fixing cartridges should bear the
CE marking according to a European standard. Work on the standard prEN 16264 – “Other pyrotechnic articles - Cartridges
90 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 74 March 2012
for powder actuated tools” started in 2009, and the final text will be voted upon in March 2012. After 4th July 2013, as foreseen by the Pyrotechnic Directive, fixing cartridges sold in Europe will bear the CE marking, while for extra European countries that adhere to the C.I.P. convention the C.I.P. certification will still be valid. A team composed of ECAP members and multinationals of this
sector also carried out work concerning the standard on cartridges. The greatest effort was to guarantee a high safety standard, without preventing the interchangeability of fixing cartridges on different PATs, which is guaranteed today by the CIP norm. This issue is particularly important for consumers and for the
European SMEs market. For consumers, so they are not subject to a closed ‘machine + component’ system (let us think about the problems created by different phone chargers, for instance, that have been recently standardised), and for SMEs, so they produce components that are compatible both with their own PATs and the PATs by multinationals. Thanks to common efforts, interchangeability has been
guaranteed, leaving the market open and at the same time safeguarding the final user to a very high degree. So it will be possible to use cartridges of different producers in several PAT models, thanks to a CE certification based on ‘system tests’ worked out in the norm prEN 16264. In 2012 there will be a revision of the norm on powder
actuated tools, to make it consistent with the norm on fixing cartridges. ECAP’s efforts concentrate on this opportunity and, despite the bureaucratic obstacles created by two different Directives and Mandates, it wishes to create a single European norm which comprehends both powder actuated tools and fixing cartridges. This would mean reducing costs and efforts, and also optimising products’ interchangeability.
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