26/6/2017

Article AM8 of the fire safety regulations applied to Building Receiving Public deals with insulation inside buildings. It authorises an evaluation of the fire risk of combustible thermal insulation products that is not protected by a thermal screen such as plasterboard. This study has to be carried out by an official French laboratory or a consortium of official laboratories that is competent in fire resistance and reaction to fire.

Efectis participed to all the meetings with the French ministry before the modification of this article. Thus Efectis has been in the position since 2005 to carry out such kind of fire risk assessment, responding to the initial demands of manufacturers of insulation systems (sandwich panels), notably through representative generic studies.

The fire behaviour analyses in accordance with article AM8 facilitate the determination of application’s fields , allowing the use of combustible insulation products in buildings with a reduced impact on the safety of people and firefighters in case of a fire. From a technical viewpoint, the analysis combines the results of the laboratory tests and the full-scale tests using numerical assessment.

Today, this approach based on fire safety engineering makes it possible to authorise effective insulation products safely in Buildings receiving public. It targets a constructive system, not a specific project.

As an official French laboratory both in fire resistance (1972) and reaction to fire ( 2017), and thanks to its testing facilities and expertise, its engineering capabilities and its large experience and background, Efectis is today in a position to offer manufacturers a full service with respect to this procedure and to deal with a very wide range of products and systems.

Pictures article fire behaviour

Contact: Philippe Raynaud – philippe.raynaud@efectis.com