Issuing of BS EN 13501 classification reports under ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation
This Technical Bulletin has been prepared further to (and supersedes) the Technical Bulletins issued by UKAS on 26th November 2021 and 2nd February 2022 for customers issuing classification reports for any of the suite of BS EN 13501 classification standards for Fire classification of construction products and building elements – Classification using data from either reaction to fire or resistance to fire tests.
UKAS, having collaborated with other technical, inspection and certification stakeholders, has determined that customers engaged in this area of activity may issue BS EN 13501 classification reports under their ISO/IEC 17025 testing accreditation and displaying the UKAS testing symbol of accreditation. This will cover both direct fields of application (DIAP) and extended fields of application (EXAP) subject to the below.
The published schedule of accreditation will identify the relevant BS EN 13501 classification standard, followed by an asterisk e.g. BS EN 13501-1:2018*, that will refer to an Appendix at the end the schedule as below.
*Appendix – BS EN 13501 Fire Classification Requirements
Introduction
The definitive statement of the accreditation status of a testing laboratory is the accreditation certificate and the associated schedule of accreditation. This schedule of accreditation is a critical document, as it defines the extent of the activities for which the organisation holds accreditation.
BS EN 13501 Fire Classification Requirements
Such classifications shall be based on a recognised Direct Field of Application (DIAP) or Extended Field of Application (EXAP) that refers to a standard prepared by or approved by CEN/TC 127 “Fire safety in buildings” or a product standard which includes full information on testing to support the EXAP.
The schedule entry does not cover any expert judgements (i.e. an opinion that is not considered/covered by an EXAP standard and/or is only based on the experience of an individual(s)).
Customers who wish to issue such reports will need to note the following:
- The customer’s UKAS Assessment Manager will need to be contacted to discuss the classification standard to be included in the schedule of accreditation. The addition of a classification standard will be processed as an extension to scope and will be charged for accordingly.
- The quality management system must include robust detail concerning those who are trained and determined competent to issue classification reports and have an appropriate controlled procedure for the issue of such reports.
- The classification report template shall ensure that the classification standard required warning of, “This document does not represent type approval or certification of the product” appears in the same field of vision and of the same prominence to the classification reported.
- Future UKAS assessments will include specific assessment of a sample of issued classification reports and will attract an increase in assessment effort dependent upon numbers issued.
For any queries relating to this Technical Bulletin, please contact your Assessment Manager.
Download this Technical Bulletin as a pdf here.