PRODUCT PERFORMANCE TESTING
Pre-testing a ‘valuable exercise’ for Polar NE
In 2021 the DiMHN and Watford-based built environment testing, research, training and standards organisation, BRE, officially launched what they believe is a ‘world-first’ testing scheme for construction products used in mental healthcare facilities. The Network’s editor, Jonathan Baillie, explains the background to the scheme, its aims, and the product types covered, and discusses with two personnel at Middlesbrough-based architectural glazing specialist, Polar NE, their recent positive experience taking one of their windows for ‘pre-testing’ at the BRE’s Science Park.
Before discussing what Polar NE gained and learned in January this year when it took one of its newer mental healthcare windows for a day of pre-testing within a special test facility at the BRE’s Watford Science Park, it is worth re-capping on the background to the jointly developed testing scheme, why it was felt it was needed, and the key areas it covers. Readers of The Network will, in fact, find considerable earlier coverage of the scheme and its development in previous issues.
Jointly developed by DiMHN and the BRE, which has a global reputation for its built environment research, testing, knowledge, and training expertise – the Informed Choices testing scheme is complemented by a detailed guidance document, and offers an independent means – which both organisations say had previously been lacking – to comprehensively test a range of materials,
fixtures, and hardware for use within mental healthcare facilities on key performance characteristics such as their ligature resistance and ability to withstand sustained attack. Products tested are not awarded a ‘pass or fail’, but rather graded on these specific performance aspects. For a specifier, such as an NHS Trust Estates and Facilities manager, this testing methodology means they will be able to then directly compare any product tested with other alternatives on the market, confident that both items will have undergone identical mechanical testing, where the human element – such as the strength of an individual attacking, say, a secure window with a paving maul (as per the guidance in Annex B in the Department of Health’s Environmental Design Guide: Adult Medium Secure Services, first published in 2011) – is removed from the equation.
A five-year development timeline The independent testing scheme, and accompanying Informed Testing guidance document, had – on their launch in July 2021 – taken over five years to develop to a point where it was considered that the testing process was sufficiently comprehensive, and the range of products covered sufficiently broad, to be formally offered to the market. Input on developing the testing scheme and the guidance had been provided by over 100 experts across the globe, led by a team in the UK. Equally important to the scheme’s development was a series of stakeholder days at which representatives from suppliers, NHS Estates & Facilities and clinical teams, installers, and academia, plus those with lived experience – got together to discuss the key areas they felt the guidance should cover, and the form it should take.
A ramping up in demand for testing anticipated While so far a number of product suppliers have taken specific items targeted at mental healthcare specifiers to the BRE for ‘pre-testing’, to gain a clearer idea of what is involved, as awareness of the scheme grows, the DiMHN and BRE expect to see many more companies looking to get their products tested, and subsequently certified under the Products for Mental Health Safeguarding certification scheme. Going forward, the DiMHN says it will be actively encouraging NHS Trusts and private healthcare providers to: l Ask suppliers to provide DiMHN/BRE Informed Choices product performance assessment. They say: “Initially this will be encouraged, with preferential consideration given to products backed by independent performance assessment.”
Two years ago Polar NE launched a newly developed version of its Humber Secure window, the Humber Two, with smaller sightlines, allowing for increased light transmittance and increased airflow, but retaining all the main features of the original product.
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l By 2025, to make the performance assessment a mandatory requirement for supply to their organisation, allowing time for all suppliers to test their products. While it is expected that the Informed
MAY 2023 | THE NETWORK
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