- Supply of layout drawings. If known the building owner, designers or contractors building the facility, supply layout drawings to IFC.
- A Site survey confirms the facts and labels are supplied and affixed at strategic locations around the building to aid users in emergency planning by identifying, planning or dealing with any fire incident should it occur.
- Labels are positioned at all the doorways into the building and its internal spaces to indicate the core of the panels in the ceilings and walls on the other side of the door. This provides information on what the fire fighter is walking into. Thus the only real danger to the fire fighter is from the ceiling panels when they delaminate in the fire.
- An Enhanced Fire Plan is created and placed at the Nearest Point of Entry for the brigade to give the Owner/Risk Assessor/Incident Commander information about the general layout and positioning of the sandwich panels in the building.
The labelling scheme in more detail
The labelling scheme includes information as to whether the panels have been tested and deemed fire stable (under test conditions the panels have not delaminated and there have been no flaming droplets from the core materials) and issued with a Conformity Certificate.
- Diagonal green stripes down the left hand side
- Solid green if the panels have passed a fire resistance test
- Red band on the right hand side if the panel has LPC approval.
The labels either side of the door indicate the core materials of the walls through the door way; the label on the door indicates the core material of the ceiling panels through the doorway. Labels are applied at a height of about 1.5m from the ground this is to allow them to be seen by a fire fighter in breathing apparatus and mask. In addition to the labels there is an enhanced fire plan placed at the Nearest Point of Entry for the brigade to give the Incident Commander information about the general layout and positioning of the sandwich panels in the building.
What are sandwich panels & what are the different types?
Sandwich panels are being used ever more widely inside buildings where cleanliness and hygiene controls are necessary:
- Food industry, production and cold storage
- Warehousing and distribution
- Pharmaceuticals
- Electronic industry clean rooms eg for CD production
- Hospitals.
- Sandwich panels are also used for external cladding and roofing.
Sandwich panels are very popular construction materials that provide a quick and efficient method of build, offering very good insulation properties. If designed correctly, are not usually prone to the other and arguably more common non-fire failures, such as icing and panel delamination. However, like so many other products, these products have highlighted the need for professional design advice regarding their suitability. When subjected to poor design and abuse, using them outside of their scope of approvals or risk class, they do have the ability like other products to compromise a design.
Simply speaking, Sandwich Panels are usually characterised by a metal facing either side of an insulating core material. The metal is usually steel and the core can be polyurethane (Pu); polyisocyanurate (PiR); expanded or extruded polystyrene(EPS, XPS); mineral rock fibre (MRF) or phenolic foam (PF).
