July 2021
Safe in the knowledge
E
ffective performance is everything when it comes to fire safety products. However, without knowing it, many of us could be making compromises when it comes to our choice of fire foams and fire rated silicones. As a company that manufactures sealants, adhesives and other building chemicals, you might expect us to advocate increased awareness when it comes to choosing fire foams. But self-gain never has, and never will, be Bond It’s main motivation for urging greater consideration when it comes to these products. Instead we believe the building industry in the UK is affected by a serious issue with equally serious, and potentially life-threatening, implications. With lives at stake, and against a backdrop where we are all increasingly accountable for our work and where they have been a number of high profile examples of poor building practices contributing to the spread of fire, we see it as our responsibility to share our knowledge. The problem stems from the existence of too many different but similar sounding classification systems. This has created a degree of confusion which has left many in the sector at risk of inadvertently using fire foams with levels of performance that fall woefully short of the mark.
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Not all fire foams are created equal Years ago specifying a fire foam was a lot simpler and arguably safer than it is today. You had the choice of either a standard foam or a fire foam with both types available in either a gun or handheld form. To benefit from its classification, fire foam had to comply with BS476 part 20. This meant it would act as a barrier to fire for 4 hours giving a building’s occupants vital time to escape. Then, with an influx of European foams into the UK came a proliferation of different standards. The most widespread was a German standard based on a sliding scale. This ranged from A1 (100% non-combustible) through to A2, B1, B2 and B3 with the latter offering the worst levels of performance. If the introduction of a whole new standard system and a large number of differing classifications didn’t serve to create enough confusion, the way of assessing the UK and European standards was also totally different. The UK standard meant a fire foam had to act as a barrier to prevent fire transferring from one room to
another for a period of four hours. The German standard meanwhile was based on someone trying to ignite the foam itself - not a very realistic scenario.
Savings - but at what cost? One of the most widely seen classifications people now find on fire foams is B2 and it’s not hard to understand why. B2 strikes a fine balance between offering some fire resistance and at a cost that won’t hurt budgets – or margins. However, in our opinion, B2 ‘fire’ foam’s performance is totally inadequate and we don’t think it should be sold as fire foam at all. Yes, there are savings and profits to be made, but at the end of the day, what price do you put on property or even more poignantly, on someone’s life? As we near the 4th anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, we are hoping lessons have been learnt.
