Specification under the new safety Act is critical, says AEI Cables
The
performance of cabling in critical fire safety systems needs to be clearly
understood as part of the new Building Safety Act, says leading cable supplier
AEI Cables.
The new Building Safety Act makes new stringent requirements
for higher-risk buildings which are those deemed to be of at least 18 metres in height or at least
seven storeys containing at least two residential units.
The Act updates
guidelines for construction and management of higher risk buildings and covers
the whole supply chain including electrical safety systems and cabling.
The current
British Standard Code of Practice BS 8519 identifies six categories of power
and control cables with survival times of 30, 60 or 120 minutes.
Stuart
Dover, general manager of AEI Cables, said: “There is a lot of new detail in
the legislation and we welcome the requirements of the Act. However, there is a
pressing need to understand the part played by electrical safety systems and
the cabling that operates these systems.
“There
is good information available through the cabling industry including our own technical
advisers about cable testing, cable classifications and cable performance in
real fire conditions.”
The systems in these buildings powered by
electrical cables – including smoke and heat extraction systems – assist fire
services in firefighting and a safe evacuation in the case of life safety.
The Building Safety Regulator will oversee the safety and performance of
all buildings, as well as having a special focus on high-rise buildings. It
will promote competence and organisational capability within the sector
including for building control professionals and tradespeople.
Building
owners should now have their building safety regime in place and any occupied
higher-risk buildings should be registered with the Building Safety Regulator.
AEI
Cables’ Firetec Enhanced cabling has been approved and certified by LPCB to
BS8519 (Annex B), Category 3 Control in addition to Category 2 Control. The BS
Code of Practice under BS8519 contains six categories of cables, three for
power cables and three for control cables each covering survival times of 30,
60 or 120 minutes.
All
AEI Cables’ products are supplied with approvals
from independent bodies including BASEC and LPCB. It also holds approvals from
organisations including Lloyds, the MoD, Network Rail and LUL and works to
international standards around the world. For more information see the AEI
Cables website,
tel 0191 410 3111 or email sales@aeicables.co.uk.