TECHNOLOGY NEWS WHAT’S NEW IN
TECHNICAL? S
everal important FD&A Standards have been reviewed by BSI and the revised versions of BS 5839-1, BS 5839-6 and BS 5839-8 are now published.
The FIA is taking a lead role in the work to
convert the BS DD’s for watermist to full BS status, the committee work is expected to start in the summer.
In the international arena work continues on TS 54-14 and ISO 7240-14, the CEN and ISO versions of BS 5839-1. These documents will provide guidelines for planning, design, installation, commissioning, use and maintenance of fire detection and fire alarm systems in the international market. For the foreseeable future the BS 5839 series continues to apply in the UK. The FDIS on ISO 7240-14 has reviewed and the FIA returned a positive vote while recommending an early review of this new Standard.
FIA Publications The EU Construction Product Regulation (CPR) comes into force on 1st July 2013. The FIA has released a Guidance Document: EU Construction Products Regulation 305/2011 and this is available from the FIA website. The document is intended to help FIA members involved in the manufacture, supply, installation and maintenance of fire detection and fire alarm equipment. The Construction Products Directive (CPD) has been applicable to FDAS products, but on 1st July 2013 this is replaced by the Construction Products Regulation. The new regulations will have more of an emphasis on the environment and sustainability; with third party testing including categories such as ‘energy economy’ and ‘sustainable use of natural resources’ and Environmental Product Declarations are proposed when available. The FIA guidance document contains factual information but also provides the FIA’s views and recommendations intended to reduce any confusion in the market. There is a list of FAQ’s to help answer common enquiries and example Declaration of Performance (DoP) certificates for a range of different types of FD&A equipment.
The new Restriction of Substances Hazardous to Health (RoSH) Regulations came into force on 2nd January this year, and includes fire detection and alarm products as part of the ‘monitoring equipment’ category; any products placed on
the market from July 2014 will need to comply. Euralarm and the FIA have been reviewing the implementation dates for RoHS II (Restriction of certain Hazardous substances regulation) and the conclusions of that work is that compliance by June 2014 is the safest option for members. There will be an FIA Fact File released shortly with guidance on action that member companies will need to take. Keep an eye on mid-week messages for its publication.
FIA Presentations and Seminars The technical team are invited to attend and present at external seminars and conferences, and the ReeBok Foam conference (page 6) is one such event. In addition to this event we attended the following: • Philip Martin gave a presentation to the British Plastics Federation at the Telford Plastics Innovation Centre on 24th April. This was a Health and Safety seminar attended by about 30 leading members of the plastics industry. The presentation was aimed at updating the industry with developments in fire safety and to address some specific problems faced by the plastics industry.
• Robert Thilthorpe gave a presentation at the BRE CPR CE marking seminar on 2nd May giving the active fire protection industry view on CE marking; highlighting the concerns over CE marking of products already covered by the CPD and those being brought into the CE marking regime after 1st July 2013.
• Graham Simons gave a presentation at the EUSAS Conference on Fire Detection in Challenging Environments held at BRE. The paper discussed standardisation and the installation requirements for FD&A products in international markets.
External Groups The Technical team continue to represent the FIA at external groups such as the new BRE Fire Suppression Liaison group which was established to replace the previous BRE expert group B, similar groups are expected for fire detection. We have also participated in the Welsh Assembly’s Domestic Suppression Group, set up to advise the Welsh Assembly on the implementation of the domestic sprinkler measure. FIA Technical Managers Robert Thilthorpe, Phillip Martin and Graham Simons
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