In the context of civil and industrial construction, both in Italy and in other European countries, there are national fire prevention regulations, which transpose the European Standards and allow the use of numerous types of products, if a Test Report and a Classification Report are available for them, certifying their precise safety characteristics in the event of fire. One of these required performance characteristics is Fire Resistance.
CSI Fire Resistance Laboratory operates in the field of testing and classification of numerous construction systems, both with vertical (e.g. walls) and horizontal orientation (e.g. floors).
CSI has been carrying out tests and classifying fire resistance according to national standards since 1988; it was the first laboratory in Italy to carry out tests and issue classifications, according to the European Standards introduced in 2000.
Since the publication of the first edition of these standards, which dates to the early 2000s, there has been a process of transposition into the individual national regulations that now affects the majority of countries in the European Community.
In this last area, it is interesting to underline that, following a mandate from the European Commission, a process of elaboration of European Standards - EN - entrusted to the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) has been underway for over 20 years, the aim of which is to contribute to the reduction of barriers to the marketing of products.
The possibility that Test Reports and Classification Reports may be mutually recognised if the Laboratory that issued the documents is accredited according to EN ISO CEI 17025 also contributes to this objective of reducing barriers between the various Member States of the European Community; in fact, accreditation guarantees the Laboratory's competence, independence and impartiality.
Italy has implemented the EN standards through the Ministerial Decree of 16 February 2007 - Fire Resistance Classification of products and construction elements of construction works. Within the Italian national territory in particular, where a fire prevention regulation must be applied, a product may be installed only if there is a Fire Resistance Classification Report issued by an Italian laboratory authorised by the Ministry of the Interior in accordance with the Ministerial Decree of 26 March 1985- Procedures and requirements for the authorisation and registration of bodies and laboratories in the lists of the Ministry of the Interior pursuant to Law no. 818 of 7 December 1984 or, in practice, by a non-national laboratory accredited according to EN ISO CEI 17025.
CSI is a Laboratory authorised by the Ministry of the Interior, according to the Ministerial Decree of 26 March 1985 and is also a Laboratory accredited (the only one in Italy, in some areas) by the National Accreditation Body - Accredia, for the fire resistance classification of load-bearing, separating and non-separating elements, both horizontal (floors) and vertical (walls), in the civil and industrial building sector.
CSI boasts almost thirty years' experience in experimental fire resistance testing, in particular for the most common partition systems (masonry block walls, light walls) or floors of the most different types (mixed steel and concrete, predalles, floors with lightening, in wood) and for special vertical load-bearing elements (wood and mixed wood-lastre walls, walls in modular reinforced concrete elements); in addition to these standard services, CSI has added qualification services, the only body in Italy, for special systems (protective for structural elements according to the EN 13381 series of standards), for service supply systems such as fire dampers, balconies and walkways, curtain walls and ventilation and smoke extraction systems.
In detail, CSI offers the test and classification service for the following systems:
For more information on which test method your product is intended to use, please contact us