“Passionate about life safety” isn’t the motto of Exova Warringtonfire, but it’s a phrase you hear a lot in its North West England testing laboratory.
John Willox, Exova Waringtonfire’s managing director for global fire safety technology, has seen how product testing has changed in the last 20 years firsthand. Once the preserve of the state, testing laboratories have changed, and now have to innovate to stay at the top.
Exova Warringtonfire is a strong brand; one that is recognized internationally, but if you had talked to it three years ago about where it would have seen itself today, you probably would have been greeted with some blank faces. Ask it today, and the response from Willox and his colleague — fire safety technology sector director for Europe, Robert Veitch — is confident.
“We’ve built a facility here with a vision for the next three years,” explained Rob. “You can’t say it’s been future-proofed, because you don’t know what technology the future has in store, but what we have now is flexibility.”
Veitch is referring to the recent GB pound 600,000 (US$794,400) investment in a huge expansion of their fire product testing laboratory in the town of Warrington, on the outskirts of Liverpool. Opened on June 6th by the UK’s fire minister, Brandon Lewis, the new building offers life safety product manufacturers what Exova Warringtonfire describes as an unrivaled facility that allows manufacturers complete confidentiality when testing their products, and an incredibly improved turnaround for test results.
“When I used to work in manufacturing, I would have been happy if I brought my product to a facility like this and got a test result between six and 12 months later,” Veitch explained. “Now, we can produce a complete report on a product’s fire rating within a maximum of eight weeks.”
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What’s changed in that time? Well, the competition for testing has intensified as the business model has moved away from state sponsorship in a number of countries. Once upon a time, a product manufacturer would bring his product to get tested because he knew he had to, and that attitude was replicated in the behaviour of the testing houses, who similarly expected them to turn up just because they had to.
Now, things are different. Customer service is a part of this industry as much as any other. A manufacturer used to have to plan out the full scope of their testing regime for a product in the product development cycle. Today, Exova Warringtonfire will work with a manufacturer to help them define the scope of a product test, and once the testing phase begins, they will take on the whole job. Let’s say you’re an intumescent paint manufacturer — just send Exova Warringtonfire a tin of paint, and they’ll take care of the rest.
This might sound obvious to someone (such as myself) not used to the world of product testing, but this is a big departure. Exova Warringtonfire will use their on-site contractors to mould the concrete (which needs to set for three months in most cases as per the certification standard), build the mounts that it will sit on, and to paint and test it all for you. If you’re testing penetration seals — which will stop a fire or heat travelling through pipes that penetrate a wall, for instance — it will build the wall, place the pipes, and set it all up for you. Once upon a time, the manufacturer had to source the concrete to be painted, or the pipes to be sealed.
By outsourcing the whole certification process, a manufacturer could get to market three months earlier, which could be the difference in getting a competitive advantage.
Exova Warringtonfire’s passion for improving life safety seeps into the different types of work it does in the fire safety vertical. As well as issuing products with relevant standards — from European EN standards, to British Standards, American ASTM standards, or any other regional standard the customer requires — Exova Waringtonfire also has a range of its own standards. These can often be slightly easier to attain for a manufacturer from, for instance, a developing nation. But Exova Warringtonfire will gradually increase the requirements of these standards in order to improve its performance in a fire and protect more lives.
“We’re a commercial body but we have passion for life safety,” Veitch underlined again.
Willox and Veitch also spoke of a warning for the UK, saying that British Standards were being left behind in favour of American ASTM standards in regions such as the Middle East. Willox explained how ten years ago, British Standards for fire safety were the number one, but the US has taken this crown. “UK Plc has been significantly outthought by the Americans,” said Willox, continuing, “while the European Union are squabbling over EN [EU standards], ASTM is making ground.”
However, Willox also emphasized that his business was adaptable to whichever standard the customer needs to test against, and that as a global business, such developments will not directly impact on their business.
Exova Warringtonfire also explained that its business is somewhat recession-proof. I asked if the hard times that the construction industry has been facing has had an impact on the amount of testing they were undertaking, but in general, the answer was no. Exova Warringtonfire’s business instead tracks mostly alongside the introduction of new standards — such as the European Construction Products Regulations, which took force on July 1st.
And most encouragingly for the business of the testing houses, the route that the EU is taking — towards harmonized European standards — will take time, with each set of standards becoming harmonized one at a time. The introduction of the CPR, and other factors, has led to a 40 percent increase in demand for fire resistance tests, and has meant the Warrington facility is now open at weekends to keep up with demand.
What does the future hold for fire resistance standards? Well, Willox says the industry “needs better harmonization.” This is good news for them, and good news for the prospects of life safety in general.
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thank you, Rob interesting info, I think it does make sense from the point of safety and security creation of the global world wide set of standards… as it would be be better for all players envolved.
It would certainly be a heck of a lot easier…
yes, I think soo, but I do hope they would smarten up… and create this type of changes on the global scale…
I’m definitely hoping for the same thing. I mean, it makes sense, really. It’s going to make the world tons safer and better for us all.
yes, I hope one day we would see this change…
Thing is, the standards aren’t necessarily the issue. Pick a standard and adhere to it, it doesn’t necessarily matter if it’s a British Standard, American or European. It’s the process of actually complying with the standards that makes the difference. And anyone in any country can choose to do that now.