LPC CODE OF PRACTICE
FOR FIRE PROTECTION IN THE FOOD AND DRINK INDUSTRY
The full document was published in 1999 as ISBN 0 902167 29-4
and is available from The Fire Protection Association on http://www.thefpa.co.uk/
Main Purpose
Over the last decade a significant number of
serious fires, and costly insurance claims,
have occurred in the food industry. The objective
of the Code of Practice is therefore to provide
advice on the protection of the material assets
of a business and its ability to trade. Protection
of property also has benefits for the life
safety of occupants of food industry buildings.
Many of the food industry fires have featured
rapid development of fire that has been attributed
to the relatively high fire loads in the buildings.
However the building elements themselves have
also been called into question in terms of fire
loading. Sandwich panels with combustible insulation
cores, used for both external and internal applications,
have been implicated as fire load contributors
in some major conflagrations - see 'Properties
of some construction products '.
The Code supports effective fire risk assessment.
This plays a vital part in effective fire safety
management. A careful assessment of all potential
hazards and associated risks will be integral
to the legal duty of most employers - see Fire
Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997, as
amended 1999.
Key Objectives
One of the key objectives of the Code is to promote
the use of internal and external construction
elements that are either non-combustible or
have been shown by large-scale fire tests to
possess appropriate properties in fire. Other
objectives are:
The selective replacement of hazardous construction
elements
Use of fire compartment walls to isolate vulnerable
business areas from those possessing high fire
loads
Sandwich Panel Performance in Fire
The Code provides data that gives an indication
of some relevant factors for metal faced sandwich
panels [1 = good; 5 = bad]. Details can be confirmed
with individual manufacturers.
| Core type
|
Fire load
Note 1
|
Ease of ignition
|
Fire spread
|
Fire resistance
Note 2
|
Thermal
Insulation
Note 3
|
Smoke production
Note 4
|
| Expanded polystyrene
|
5
|
5
|
5
|
5
|
2
|
5
|
| Polyurethane foam
|
5
|
5
|
3
|
5
|
1
|
4
|
| Polyisocyanurate
foam
|
5
|
3
|
3
|
4
|
1
|
4
|
| Modified phenolic
foam
|
5
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
?
|
3
|
| Glass foam
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
?
|
1
|
| Mineral wool [
rock]
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
Key: ? = Data
not yet available
Note 1. These comparisons are based on
current designs and construction. Developments
in design, particularly joint construction, may
lead to improved fire performance
Note 2. Fire resistance is measured for
a complete construction, including the supporting
structure and joint detail. Even core types rated
1 for fire resistance will only achieve that
rating if properly constructed and installed
Note 3. Thermal insulation in this table
refers to the thermal insulation provided by
the panel during normal use and not to the insulation
value under fire conditions, as defined in paragraph
3.3.1 of the original document. The values given
are intended as a guide to the relative insulation
properties of the different cores. In practice,
equivalent insulation performances may be obtained
by increasing or decreasing the thickness of
the core.
Note 4. These values give an indication
of the relative levels of smoke and toxic gases
produced by the core material once exposed during
a fire.
For other details please refer to LPC Design
Guide for fire protection of buildings.
Further useful information can be found in the
Cooke Report - Risk assessment of external cladding.
|
