New Government Legislation was introduced on the 1st November 2019. This legislation states that it is mandatory for all fire shutters to be CE marked. Products tested to 2008 certification are now prohibited by law.
The Grenfell inquiry has highlighted the issues with all fire rated products in the UK and how they are tested. The government has basically improved the standards of how fire products are tested and installed. All Fire Rated Shutters and Steel Doors in the UK have had to be retested to the new fire standards BS EN 16034:2014 and must be CE Marked to BS EN 13241-1:2003. This is because compliance with the Construction Product Regulations (EU) 305/2011(CPR) becomes mandatory for both manual and powered fire-resisting industrial doors on this date.
All our Fire Rated Shutters and Steel Doors have been independently tested, approved and certified by Exova Warrington Fire Test facility. The testing has become a lot stricter, the main differences are:
Pre November 2019 Standards
BS EN 1634-1 – Fire resistance tests for door and shutter assemblies
BS 476-22:1987 – Fire tests on building materials and structures. Method for determination of the fire resistance of non-loadbearing elements of construction
These standards only covered the fire resistance characteristics, there was no requirement to ensure the product would release under the receipt of a fire alarm signal.
BS EN 13241 Industrial, commercial and garage doors and gates – product standard
This standard was only used to CE mark the shutter characteristics. Prior to Nov 2019 you could not CE mark a fire shutter to suit fire and shutter characteristics. This is because there was no harmonised standard for fire shutters and BS EN 13241 specifically excluded fire shutters.
Post November 2019 Standards
The tree below breaks down the complexity of the new
standards. There is now a harmonised standard that covers the
characteristics of a fire shutter (BS EN 16034) and BS EN 13241 was amended to
include fire shutters. This now means the industry can CE mark a fire
shutter. There is also now one set of rules to extend your product range past
what was tested, EN 15269:11, if this standard states you can’t make change i.e
reducing your expansion from your tested sample, the shutter can’t then be
classified as a fire shutter.
Main changes
A fire shutter should be CE marked to both BS EN 16034 and
BS EN 13241-1
Characteristics that need testing for the 16034 part of the
CE mark:
- Resistance to fire
- Smoke Control
- Ability to release - The ability of the shutter to close on receipt of a fire alarm signal
- Self-closing - The ability of the shutter to close fully without human intervention in case of power failure
- The durability of the ability to release
- The durability of self-closing – against degradation and
aging
Certain characteristics can be classed as no performance determined (NPD). E.g. Durability of ability to release and of self-closing, smoke control can be NPD this means the product can’t be advertised as a smoke barrier.
Please CLICK HERE to download the full report on changes to the Regulations from the DHF (Door Hardware Federation).
If you have any questions then please contact our Sales Team and we will help answer any questions.