HC Deb 04 June 1998 vol 313 cc297-9W
Kate Hoey

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will introduce measures to limit the generation of smoke from building products; [44025]

(2) if he will make a statement on the timetable for implementing individual member state's new European Union standards relating to test methods used to determine the fire resistance of construction products; [44023]

(3) if the test method in British Standard 476 Part 33 permits the evaluation of the generation of smoke from building products; and what assessment he has made of the suitability of this as a performance standard for regulatory purposes. [44024]

Mr. Raynsford

The Building Regulations 1991 are intended to secure the health and safety in and around buildings, and paragraph B of Schedule 1 to the Regulations makes functional requirements to cover fire safety. Guidance on how these requirements may be met are given in Approved Document B, and, as far as materials used in construction are concerned, performance standards are set based on recognised test methods.

With regard to the generation of smoke from building products, the only recognised method of test available that measures smoke production is BS 476: Part 33 which relates to a full scale room test for surface products. This test gives an indication of the toxic hazard by the measurement of certain toxic gases and also the hazard of reduced visibility can be estimated by the measurement of the production of light-obscuring smoke. Because of the size of this test, it is not considered practicable to introduce it as a performance standard for regulatory purposes.

Approved Document B (Fire Safety) makes reference to a number of BS 476 parts that are considered to give acceptable methods of test and the key parameters usually considered in fire tests are the heat release rate and flame spread. These in themselves will also have an effect on smoke production. I therefore have no proposals at present to introduce the large-scale test given in BS 476 Part 33 as part of the performance standard for regulatory purpose. However, the use of a fire engineering approach is recognised in Approved Document B and the BS 476: Part 33 method of test could be used as part of the justification for a particular fire engineering solution.

The Single Burning Item (SBI) test being developed in support of the Construction Products Directive, does also address smoke production and we will need to take account of this when revising Approved Document B in the light of any future harmonised European Standards.

The European standards for resistance to fire have been passed to National Standards bodies (in the United Kingdom, the British Standards Institution) by CEN, the European Standards Organisation, for a formal vote, expected to be completed by the end of this month. If there is a positive vote, the test will be ratified and published towards the end of this year by the national standards bodies. Decisions have yet to be taken on the period for which European and national standards will co-exist but a reasonable period will be allowed for industry to adjust before the latter are withdrawn.