BS6206 and fire resisting glazing

[kurnal]

I have been looking at a glazed screen enclosing the head of a staircase serving a bedroom corridor on the second floor of a care home. The glazing is etched BS6206A. There are no other markings.
 
My understanding was that BS6206 is purely an impact safety assessment and provides no protection against fire.

I would have expected the glass to have to be etched to indicate a fire safety performance in this location. I recommended the glazing be checked and replaced if no evidence of fire performance could be found.

The owner is adamant that the glazing was approved by the building control officer and the local fire officer. I phoned the local office and the helpful chap I spoke to said that glass etched BS6206A  is satisfactory for fire resisting glazing and confirmed that the installation had been approved.

Have I missed something somewhere?

[jokar]

As far as I am aware FR Glazing does not have to be marked once it has been cut into smaller pieces.  The only way to then check is for the glazing to be removed and tested by a glazing expert.  We had to do that once after the St marys Axe bomb disaster and the glazig that had replaced that blown away was not FR just impact resistant.  There is a huge amount of information available on the Glass and Glazing website, I have some of it but ir is accessible with a google.

[Tom Sutton]

Kurnal try http://www.ggf.co.uk/learn/view_doc_members_info_postings.phtml?id=26 it may be of some use.

http://www.ggf.co.uk/

[kurnal]

Thaks TW and Jokar.

Heres a quote from the ggf document Best Practice Guide Section 8: Installation


"Marking of fire-resistant glass
Fire-resistant glass should carry a permanent mark (for example, of the type normally
applied for impact safety). This mark must show as a minimum the glass product name,
supplier and safety impact rating if required. In some cases, additional information such
as the fire performance classification for the glass may also be given."

So thats as clear as mud to me. It appears that fire resisting glass must show its impact compliance and may show its fire resistance.
The document goes on

"Any identifying marks on the glass must be visible and legible after glazing.
The important reasons for marking the glass in this way are as follows:
• confirmation and ready crosschecking against building specification that the specified
glass has been installed
• information for those carrying out fire risk assessments
• notification of the glass type and manufacturer in case replacement or refurbishment
is necessary.
Marking with the name of the particular glass product that has been installed is particularly
important for non reinforced fire-resistant glass types since they cannot be individually
identified when glazed without such a mark (for example modified toughened soda lime
glass or borosilicate).
Such an identifying mark on the glass must not be taken as applying to the whole
of the glazed system. There must be appropriate evidence of performance
for the system as a whole, and the fire-resistant glass must be approved as an
integral part of that system. Reference to this evidence must be given in the
documentation provided on installation.
The mark on the glass should therefore be taken as only an indicator for the
system as a whole. Confirmation that a suitable system has been installed, and
the rating of that system, must be available in accompanying documentation."

There doesnt appear to be any documentation in this case. As far as I can tell the screen appears to have been accepted on the basis of it showing the following marks: VIZOR TEMPERED GLAZING BS6206AT KM351700.  The units are sealed double glazed with a gap of about 12mm between panes but there doesnt appear to be any intumescent glazing system in the timber frame assembly. However I have found the address of VIZOR and will contact them tomorrow.

Hey I found this website whilst researching this problem and it looks great to me:

http://www.pilkington.com/pilkingtonincludes/specifire/Pilkington.swf

Hope it is of use to you in the future.