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MANDATORY CE MARKING – A COMPLEX ISSUE
NICK COOPER, Technical
Director at AluK, a leading
manufacturer of innovative
aluminium window,
door and curtain walling
systems, joined AluK in
2013, bringing with him a
wealth of experience in the
contracting and fabrication
industry, with a strong
background in bespoke
project development, project
management, procurement,
planning and training.
Prior to joining AluK,
Nick successfully set up a
new aluminium contracting
division within the BSW
Group. As Technical Director
at AluK, Nick is responsible
for research and development,
project support team
development as well as project
specific and general technical
support. In this article, Nick
discusses CE Marking in
relation to the safety and
security of products in the
marketplace.
In recent years, the
construction industry has
witnessed many standards and
regulations changes, including
the safety and security of
products in the marketplace.
In order to establish common
rules in the European markets
and rectify the inconsistencies
of the Construction Product
Directive, the Construction
Products Regulation 2011
(CPR) removed technical
barriers to trade for
construction products. This
standardised some elements
of testing and should provide
many benefits, ensuring that
products across the European
market are produced on a like
for like basis.
As an effect of this change,
mandatory CE marking
has now been introduced.
Manufacturers and exporters
are now confronted by new
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THE JUL/AUG 2014 ISSUE
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health and safety requirements
for their products. They must
comply with mandatory
EU regulations, carry out
associated procedures,
and develop a system for
complying with health and
safety requirements and for
documentation. For windows
and doors manufacturers this
is BS EN 14351-1, Windows
and doors – product standard,
performance characteristics;
Part 1: Windows and external
pedestrian doorsets without
resistance to fire and/or
smoke leakage characteristics
(Published hEN).
The introduction of
mandatory CE marking also
highlighted the necessity of
well designed, good value
products that come with
all the right certifications.
Furthermore, various sectors
have individual safety and
security requirements that
need to be adhered to, making
CE marking a complex issue.
‘A Passport For
Technical Data’
It is important to realise that
CE marking is only a ‘passport’
for technical data, enabling a
product to be placed legally on
the EU market. Responsibility
for ensuring that a product
has the correct characteristics
for a particular application
still rests with the designers,
contractors and local building
authorities.
A product must comply
with building regulations,
which ensures that it is fit for
purpose; however, this does
not mean that the product
is safe and secure for the
application or sector. Building
regulations cannot, therefore,
be looked at in isolation;
they need to be considered
alongside the products’
security standards.
There are various security
test options available, all of
which give various definitions
of what is classified as
‘secure’ The specification
.
dictates the security
requirements; but what is the
correct specification for the
application?
To answer these questions, it
is necessary to consider what
security options are available.
There are many to choose
from; however, there are four
particular security standards
that are being mentioned in
specification documents for
doors and windows:
PAS24 – mechanical
loading, manual attack,
commonly used in residential
applications
EN 1627-30 – mechanical
loading, manual attack,
commonly used in residential
or commercial applications,
LPS1175 – no mechanical
loading, manual attack,
commonly used for
commercial applications
STS202 – no mechanical
loading, manual attack,
commonly used for
commercial applications
Each of the above mentioned
specifications presents its
own challenge to the system
designer, e.g. PAS24 applies
a mechanical load of 4.5KN,
whereas for EN1627-30, the
commercial door is classified
within RC3, which requires a
mechanical loading of 6KN.
These specifications create
issues within the profile
design; for instance, to achieve
a 6KN load compared to a
4.5KN load will require a
thicker wall of the profile, and
this increase will drive the cost
of the profile up.
It is worth noting that to
obtain a ‘Secured by Design’
certificate for any of the above
mentioned, the performance
standards BS 6375 (all parts)
are also required.
Secured by Design –
Design Guides include:
• New Homes
• Refurbished Properties
• Schools
• Hospitals
We are anticipating the
release of the SBD commercial
guidance documents in the
coming months to provide
much needed advice on the
level of security to protect
commercial and public
buildings. Without the correct
guidance it is very difficult for
a systems manufacturer to
test a product and make sure
the test standard required
is sufficient; this can build
in unnecessary costs if the
perceived crime risk is much
lower than the product has
been tested to.
Working in partnership with
manufacturers and suppliers
who can deliver innovative
products of the right quality,
contractors are able to deliver
differentiation which will
help them to stand out in the
market, whether this is in
terms of better service levels,
performance guarantees,
hardware aesthetics
and security and energy
performance.
To read more, visit www.locksmithjournal.co.uk