Bounding
Encyclopedia
Listing and approval use and compliance is the activity of adhering to all the requirements of installing or using safety-related products and items in conformance with an active certification listing
or approval that has been issued by an organisation that is accredited both for testing and product certification
, such as those issued by Underwriters Laboratories
, FM Global
, American Nuclear Insurers, or the Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik
(DIBt). In concept, if a safety-related item, such as a fire door
or a fire extinguisher
, or a toaster
is used in the same manner as the listing or approval states, and conforming to the intent of he associated testing, then use of the component or system complies with the listing. The listing or test is often cited by a regulation, such as a building code
or a fire code, and as such is made law . This concept is known as bounding in the nuclear industry. Products whose use is not mandated by any building code
s or fire codes often lack a consensus test method. Unless there is a test standard in existence to prove the functionality and reliability of such a product, there can be no certification listing.
's Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik
or Canada
's SCC (Standards Council of Canada) can "accredit" laboratories, meaning that such laboratories must conform to national standards and rules of conduct in the discharge of their duties. Compliance is routinely tested by the accreditor through inspections, where random client files are audited to see that the laboratory followed all appropriate procedures. Accreditors can accredit laboratories for testing, as well as for product certification
. In product certification regimes, the laboratory or the accreditor (as in the case of Germany) become involved in witnessing the production of test materials, get copies of process standards, including chemical formulas and all details necessary to manufacture a product. Once the test product is made, it is shipped "under seal" to the laboratory for incorporation in the test. Certification listings or approvals that follow a successful test are subject to the maintenance of continuous factory auditing to make sure that what was tested is identical to that which was made, or documented proof that the products made continue to meet quality control standards set out as a function of the approvals process.
Safety related products undergo product certification to enable their use by the public. The value of testing by organisations without accreditation for product certification is based on faith
in the organisation or its ethics
, or culpability
. In countries in which a national authority is a present (e.g., the United States), the listings provided by large well established third-party testing and certification companies are accepted as the societal standard. In such cases, the link to the building code is through regional standards, such as the Uniform Building Code, or the Standard Building Code.
Manufacturers of products routinely test their own products and competitors' products for their own purposes, as it makes good fiscal sense to test in one's own lab before incurring the costs of a third party facility.
, Underwriters' Laboratories of Canada ULC-S115 is the test method that must be used by a laboratory whose tests are to be accepted in Canada
. ULC is nationally accredited in Canada to write standards, test products and to certify products.
Because Canada uses the accredation model of a national accrediting authority, if an organisation tests a firestop
in or for use in Canada, in accordance with the correct standard (ULC-S115), but is not accredited by the SCC, the test results cannot be used to in any approvals of field installations on Canadian construction sites. If, on the other hand, the test laboratory is also accredited for product certification, then before the test takes place, a follow-up or certification agreement is anticipated between the certifier and the submitter of the test who desires a rating or a listing. An inspector
from the certifying organisation witnesses the manufacture of the product or products to be tested, and checks the manufacturing procedures against the process standard that is in place and by then on file with the certifying organisation. The process standard includes all information necessary to manufacture the product or products, including equipment descriptions, tolerances, chemical formulas and purchasing specifications for ingredients or components. The manufactured goods are sealed by the inspector and then shipped to the laboratory, where the contents are used to build the test specimen in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
Cheating in testing may include substitution of materials and components by the manufacturer, or additional measures to assure the product passes the test.
If the product passes the testing required for certification, the items in the test that passed are given a certification listing, which describes the product(s) that were tested, the application, and maximum and minimum tolerances for all components. Certification listings are short versions and interpretations of the test results.
A certification listing indicates that the test has been properly conducted, the tested systems passed, and that a follow-up agreement is in effect between the manufacturer or submitter and the certifier. This means that in addition to the original inspection where the test materials were produced, the certifier makes inspections of the manufacturing facility to ensure that what is being manufactured and sold is still the same as what was originally tested.
In the event that irregularities are discovered on the part of the manufacturer - substitutions of cheaper ingredients or components, deliberate irregularities, or an ingredient or component of a tested system which is no longer be available has been substituted - the listing can be de-activated and the manufacturer asked to remove all logos of the certifier from product literature, promotional materials, packaging, etc.
In Germany's system, formulas and process standards are shared with the governmental accreditor: DIBt http://www.dibt.de/. DIBt uses the laboratories to audit the factories, but the audits are restricted to quality control tests of the finished products - not their chemical compositions or exact process standards. In North America, manufacturers are obliged to share their process standards with the laboratories, as there is no national accreditor that issues "approvals". This has resulted in the use of "fingerprinting" procedures, where manufacturers will permit their laboratory inspectors to conduct infrared spectroanalysis and other QC tests, in place of the process standards.
North American laboratories are usually private sector companies, though some of them are non-profit organisations, such as Underwriters Laboratories
. There have been migrations of private sector laboratory engineers to manufacturers. Concerns over the sharing of confidential proprietary information are mitigated through confidentiality agreements.
assembly has a listing of a 2 hour fire-resistance rating
, and all the provisions of the listing were kept in the field, including materials, spacing, workmanship, etc., the 2 hour wall required by the building's designer is likely to withstand a 2 hour fire.
A case of the lack of mandatory bounding in US and Canadian nuclear power plant
construction
was the Thermo-Lag scandal, which was exposed by whistleblower
Gerald W. Brown
. The disclosure of the inadequacy of fire test
ing employed in the circuit integrity
product led to widespread and costly remedial work for licensees of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
.
Certification listing
A certification listing is a document used to guide installations of certified products against which a field installation is compared to make sure that it complies with a regulation, such as a building code...
or approval that has been issued by an organisation that is accredited both for testing and product certification
Product certification
Product certification or product qualification is the process of verifying that a certain product has passed performance tests and quality assurance tests or qualification requirements stipulated in contracts, regulations, or specifications...
, such as those issued by Underwriters Laboratories
Underwriters Laboratories
Underwriters Laboratories Inc. is an independent product safety certification organization. Established in 1894, the company has its headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois. UL develops standards and test procedures for products, materials, components, assemblies, tools and equipment, chiefly dealing...
, FM Global
FM Global
FM Global is a U.S.-based insurance company, with offices worldwide, that specializes in loss prevention services primarily to large corporations throughout the world in the Highly Protected Risk property insurance market sector. "FM Global" is the communicative name of the company, whereas the...
, American Nuclear Insurers, or the Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik
Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik
Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik may be translated as German Institute for Civil Engineering, however, the institute officially does not approve of any translation of its name and wishes to be called only by its original German name. It is an agency of the German , with an office building in Berlin...
(DIBt). In concept, if a safety-related item, such as a fire door
Fire door
A fire door is a door with a fire-resistance rating used as part of a passive fire protection system to reduce the spread of fire or smoke between compartments and to enable safe egress from a building or structure or ship...
or a fire extinguisher
Fire extinguisher
A fire extinguisher or extinguisher, flame entinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations...
, or a toaster
Toaster
The toaster is typically a small electric kitchen appliance designed to toast multiple types of bread products. A typical modern two-slice toaster draws anywhere between 600 and 1200 W and makes toast in 1 to 3 minutes...
is used in the same manner as the listing or approval states, and conforming to the intent of he associated testing, then use of the component or system complies with the listing. The listing or test is often cited by a regulation, such as a building code
Building code
A building code, or building control, is a set of rules that specify the minimum acceptable level of safety for constructed objects such as buildings and nonbuilding structures. The main purpose of building codes are to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the...
or a fire code, and as such is made law . This concept is known as bounding in the nuclear industry. Products whose use is not mandated by any building code
Building code
A building code, or building control, is a set of rules that specify the minimum acceptable level of safety for constructed objects such as buildings and nonbuilding structures. The main purpose of building codes are to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the...
s or fire codes often lack a consensus test method. Unless there is a test standard in existence to prove the functionality and reliability of such a product, there can be no certification listing.
Governmental accreditation of laboratories
National, governmental accreditors, such as GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
's Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik
Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik
Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik may be translated as German Institute for Civil Engineering, however, the institute officially does not approve of any translation of its name and wishes to be called only by its original German name. It is an agency of the German , with an office building in Berlin...
or Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's SCC (Standards Council of Canada) can "accredit" laboratories, meaning that such laboratories must conform to national standards and rules of conduct in the discharge of their duties. Compliance is routinely tested by the accreditor through inspections, where random client files are audited to see that the laboratory followed all appropriate procedures. Accreditors can accredit laboratories for testing, as well as for product certification
Product certification
Product certification or product qualification is the process of verifying that a certain product has passed performance tests and quality assurance tests or qualification requirements stipulated in contracts, regulations, or specifications...
. In product certification regimes, the laboratory or the accreditor (as in the case of Germany) become involved in witnessing the production of test materials, get copies of process standards, including chemical formulas and all details necessary to manufacture a product. Once the test product is made, it is shipped "under seal" to the laboratory for incorporation in the test. Certification listings or approvals that follow a successful test are subject to the maintenance of continuous factory auditing to make sure that what was tested is identical to that which was made, or documented proof that the products made continue to meet quality control standards set out as a function of the approvals process.
Testing by laboratories without national accreditation
Testing by organisations or laboratories who hold no national accreditation for testing purposes are not subject to mandatory governmental audits of compliance with applicable requirements. Even an organisation that is nationally accredited for testing purposes may not necessarily issue test reports that provide assurance that commercial products tested by it are the same as what is being sold or used by the public.Safety related products undergo product certification to enable their use by the public. The value of testing by organisations without accreditation for product certification is based on faith
Faith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
in the organisation or its ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
, or culpability
Culpability
Culpability descends from the Latin concept of fault . The concept of culpability is intimately tied up with notions of agency, freedom and free will...
. In countries in which a national authority is a present (e.g., the United States), the listings provided by large well established third-party testing and certification companies are accepted as the societal standard. In such cases, the link to the building code is through regional standards, such as the Uniform Building Code, or the Standard Building Code.
Manufacturers of products routinely test their own products and competitors' products for their own purposes, as it makes good fiscal sense to test in one's own lab before incurring the costs of a third party facility.
Testing for the purpose of achieving product certification
Product certification involves testing a product to a test standard that is accepted in the region in which the product will be sold. For instance, in the case of a firestopFirestop
A firestop is a passive fire protection system of various components used to seal openings and joints in fire-resistance rated wall and/or floor assemblies, based on fire testing and certification listings....
, Underwriters' Laboratories of Canada ULC-S115 is the test method that must be used by a laboratory whose tests are to be accepted in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. ULC is nationally accredited in Canada to write standards, test products and to certify products.
Because Canada uses the accredation model of a national accrediting authority, if an organisation tests a firestop
Fire test
A fire test is a means of determining whether or not fire protection products meet minimum performance criteria as set out in a building code or other applicable legislation. Successful tests in laboratories holding national accreditation for testing and certification result in the issuance of a...
in or for use in Canada, in accordance with the correct standard (ULC-S115), but is not accredited by the SCC, the test results cannot be used to in any approvals of field installations on Canadian construction sites. If, on the other hand, the test laboratory is also accredited for product certification, then before the test takes place, a follow-up or certification agreement is anticipated between the certifier and the submitter of the test who desires a rating or a listing. An inspector
Inspector
Inspector is both a police rank and an administrative position, both used in a number of contexts. However, it is not an equivalent rank in each police force.- Australia :...
from the certifying organisation witnesses the manufacture of the product or products to be tested, and checks the manufacturing procedures against the process standard that is in place and by then on file with the certifying organisation. The process standard includes all information necessary to manufacture the product or products, including equipment descriptions, tolerances, chemical formulas and purchasing specifications for ingredients or components. The manufactured goods are sealed by the inspector and then shipped to the laboratory, where the contents are used to build the test specimen in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
Cheating in testing may include substitution of materials and components by the manufacturer, or additional measures to assure the product passes the test.
Documentation
After testing, the testing laboratory issues a test report to the manufacturer, who is not obliged to share it with anyone.If the product passes the testing required for certification, the items in the test that passed are given a certification listing, which describes the product(s) that were tested, the application, and maximum and minimum tolerances for all components. Certification listings are short versions and interpretations of the test results.
A certification listing indicates that the test has been properly conducted, the tested systems passed, and that a follow-up agreement is in effect between the manufacturer or submitter and the certifier. This means that in addition to the original inspection where the test materials were produced, the certifier makes inspections of the manufacturing facility to ensure that what is being manufactured and sold is still the same as what was originally tested.
In the event that irregularities are discovered on the part of the manufacturer - substitutions of cheaper ingredients or components, deliberate irregularities, or an ingredient or component of a tested system which is no longer be available has been substituted - the listing can be de-activated and the manufacturer asked to remove all logos of the certifier from product literature, promotional materials, packaging, etc.
Confidentiality
Organisations accredited for testing and certification of safety-related items typically operate in large facilities where many test submittors work to build test specimens and then go to test. Confidentiality is of importance to most submittors as well as the laboratories. Some manufacturers are extremely reluctant to share their proprietary process standards with any third parties.In Germany's system, formulas and process standards are shared with the governmental accreditor: DIBt http://www.dibt.de/. DIBt uses the laboratories to audit the factories, but the audits are restricted to quality control tests of the finished products - not their chemical compositions or exact process standards. In North America, manufacturers are obliged to share their process standards with the laboratories, as there is no national accreditor that issues "approvals". This has resulted in the use of "fingerprinting" procedures, where manufacturers will permit their laboratory inspectors to conduct infrared spectroanalysis and other QC tests, in place of the process standards.
North American laboratories are usually private sector companies, though some of them are non-profit organisations, such as Underwriters Laboratories
Underwriters Laboratories
Underwriters Laboratories Inc. is an independent product safety certification organization. Established in 1894, the company has its headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois. UL develops standards and test procedures for products, materials, components, assemblies, tools and equipment, chiefly dealing...
. There have been migrations of private sector laboratory engineers to manufacturers. Concerns over the sharing of confidential proprietary information are mitigated through confidentiality agreements.
Structural fire protection
Fire protection products used in the construction of buildings, ships and offshore facilities are required to conform with the certification listings or approvals. The field installation will comply with code requirements if it is configured within the maximum and minimum tolerances in the listings and approvals. For example, if a drywallDrywall
Drywall, also known as plasterboard, wallboard or gypsum board is a panel made of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper...
assembly has a listing of a 2 hour fire-resistance rating
Fire-resistance rating
A fire-resistance rating typically means the duration for which a passive fire protection system can withstand a standard fire resistance test. This can be quantified simply as a measure of time, or it may entail a host of other criteria, involving other evidence of functionality or fitness for...
, and all the provisions of the listing were kept in the field, including materials, spacing, workmanship, etc., the 2 hour wall required by the building's designer is likely to withstand a 2 hour fire.
A case of the lack of mandatory bounding in US and Canadian nuclear power plant
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
was the Thermo-Lag scandal, which was exposed by whistleblower
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
Gerald W. Brown
Gerald W. Brown
Gerald W. "Jerry" Brown is an American whistleblower who concerned himself with deficiencies in passive fire protection systems in US and Canadian nuclear power plants.-Thermo-Lag scandal:...
. The disclosure of the inadequacy of fire test
Fire test
A fire test is a means of determining whether or not fire protection products meet minimum performance criteria as set out in a building code or other applicable legislation. Successful tests in laboratories holding national accreditation for testing and certification result in the issuance of a...
ing employed in the circuit integrity
Circuit integrity
Circuit integrity refers to the operability of electrical circuits during a fire. It is a form of fire-resistance rating. Circuit integrity is achieved via passive fire protection means, which are subject to stringent listing and approval use and compliance.-Fireproofing:Providing fireproofing for...
product led to widespread and costly remedial work for licensees of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
.
See also
- Certification listingCertification listingA certification listing is a document used to guide installations of certified products against which a field installation is compared to make sure that it complies with a regulation, such as a building code...
- Certification markCertification markA certification mark on a commercial product indicates five things:* The existence of a legal follow-up or product certification agreement between the manufacturer of a product and an organization with national accreditation for both testing and certification,* Legal evidence that the product was...
- Passive fire protectionPassive fire protectionPassive fire protection is an integral component of the three components of structural fire protection and fire safety in a building. PFP attempts to contain fires or slow the spread, through use of fire-resistant walls, floors, and doors...
- Active fire protectionActive fire protectionActive fire protection is an integral part of fire protection. AFP is characterised by items and/or systems, which require a certain amount of motion and response in order to work, contrary to passive fire protection.-Fire suppression:...
- IntumescentIntumescentAn intumescent is a substance which swells as a result of heat exposure, thus increasing in volume, and decreasing in density. Intumescents are typically used in passive fire protection and, in America, require listing and approval use and compliance in their installed configurations in order to...
- Firestop pillowFirestop pillowFirestop pillows are passive fire protection items, used for firestopping holes in wall or floor assemblies required to have a fire-resistance rating...
- Fire doorFire doorA fire door is a door with a fire-resistance rating used as part of a passive fire protection system to reduce the spread of fire or smoke between compartments and to enable safe egress from a building or structure or ship...
- Fire extinguisherFire extinguisherA fire extinguisher or extinguisher, flame entinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations...
External links
- Standards Council of Canada
- Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik
- ULC
- ULI
- TU Braunschweig iBMB
- DIN
- USNRC Inspection Report @ Shearon Harris Plant - Bounding of installed configurations
- NRC SECY-00-0080: "bounding fire tests for the myriad of fire seal configurations"
Accredited testing and certification organisations
- CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
:- Accreditation: Standards Council of Canada
- Certification and Testing:
- Underwriters' Laboratories of Canada
- Canadian Standards Association (CSA)
- GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
:- Accreditation and Approvals: Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik (DIBt)
- Testing: iBMB/TU Braunschweig
- United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
- Testing and Certification: Underwriters LaboratoriesUnderwriters LaboratoriesUnderwriters Laboratories Inc. is an independent product safety certification organization. Established in 1894, the company has its headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois. UL develops standards and test procedures for products, materials, components, assemblies, tools and equipment, chiefly dealing...
http://www.ul.com - Testing and Certification: FM GlobalFM GlobalFM Global is a U.S.-based insurance company, with offices worldwide, that specializes in loss prevention services primarily to large corporations throughout the world in the Highly Protected Risk property insurance market sector. "FM Global" is the communicative name of the company, whereas the...
http://www.fmglobal.com/page.aspx?id=03050000 - Testing and Certification NTA IncNTA IncNTA Inc is a nationally recognized testing laboratory and third party certification agency headquartered in Nappanee, Indiana, USA.- About NTA :NTA evaluates and certifies products for the residential and commercial building industry....
http://www.ntainc.com
- Testing and Certification: Underwriters Laboratories