Coopers Fire welcomes BS 9999 guidance

Mike Ward welcomes the release of the latest edition of BS 9999:2017, which recognises the increasing role of fire curtains in modern buildings

BS 9999: Code of practice for fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings: 2017 gives recommendations and guidance on the design, management and use of buildings to achieve appropriate standards of fire safety. The new standard outlines recommendations for the use of active fire curtain barriers in protecting means of escape and as part of a smoke control strategy within complex buildings such as shopping complexes.

BS 9999:2017 details a range of recommendations for the design of active fire curtain assemblies in buildings. These recommendations include ensuring that such systems should be initiated by an appropriate automatic fire detector and that they must be self-closing under gravity.

The standard lays out a number of safety recommendations for active fire curtains stating that all measures must be relevant to the risk. Recommendations include a capability for multi-stage deployment, inclusion of emergency retract controls and obstruction warning devices. It recommends that fire curtain assemblies must achieve the same standard of fire resistance and smoke separation as the element of structure being replaced and that when fire curtain barriers are used to protect a means of escape route, the escape route width should be increased by the stated deflection of the fire curtain fabric element (the deflection zone).

In addition to providing recommendations for the design of such systems, BS 9999:2017 recommends that fire and smoke curtains should be tested and installed in accordance with BS 8524-1: Active fire curtain assemblies. Specification and BS 8524-2: Active fire curtain barrier assemblies. Code of practice for application, installation and maintenance respectively.

BS 8524-1 and BS 8524-2 place strict requirements for specifying barrier assemblies; system design and installation; and require that planned inspection, testing and maintenance should always be carried out by a competent person. The standard highlights that the maintenance of fire curtains throughout their lifetime is just as important as the initial specification, since should a curtain fail to deploy to its operational position, the fire-engineered design solution would be compromised.

BS 8524-1 covers every aspect of the constituent parts that make up the finished fire curtain; including the fabric curtain materials, the motor drive systems, its frame, and its electrical power and control systems with all associated ancillary devices. It requires a series of operational tests prior to fire testing on the furnace to ensure the components all work independently of each other and that a fully operational fire curtain is fire tested.

Coopers Fire is the first manufacturer to achieve full compliance to British Standard BS 8524 Parts 1 & 2 for active fire curtain barrier assemblies and is the only fire and smoke curtain manufacturer with independent third party accreditation for installation, commissioning and maintenance.

For further information on the full range of Coopers Fire smoke and fire curtain systems email: info@coopersfire.com; or visit www.coopersfire.com