EuroWire March 2016

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News
Corporate
38 March 2016
Extension includes
large-scale vertical
ladder fire test
The British Approvals Service for Cables (BASEC) has extended
its United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accreditation
of its UK laboratory to cover a broad range of cable fire tests.
This extension to BASEC’s scope under ISO/IEC 17025:2005
includes the large-scale vertical ladder test used for the EU
Construction Products Regulation (CPR), EN 50399, and the
full range of vertical ladder tests to the IEC 60332-3-21/25
series as well as many other familiar cable fire tests.
These cable fire tests include small-scale circuit integrity
tests in its three re-configurable fire test chambers,
including a range of small-scale IEC 60331 series fire tests,
the long-established BS 6387 tests, tests for fire alarm and
emergency lighting cables to BS EN 50200/Annex E and BS
8434-2, and the enhanced attack test for larger cables BS 8491.
Dr Jeremy Hodge, chief executive at BASEC, said: “With these
new accreditations, BASEC is demonstrating its capabilities
and commitment to the industry by investing in high quality
personnel and equipment. Accreditation of the EN 50399
test, building on our existing accreditations to EN 61034,
EN 60754 and EN 60332-1-2, will allow manufacturers and
suppliers to confidently start their preparations for the
introduction of CPR for cables in Europe with accredited tests.
We are already using our facilities for regular BASEC cable
approvals testing, and also for accredited testing for a range
of customers in specialist areas such as marine, rail, fibre optic
and communications cables.”
BASEC has also upgraded its UKAS product certification
accreditation to the new international standard ISO/IEC
17065, and has enhanced the scope of its UKAS management
system accreditations under ISO/IEC 17021 to include cable
distribution and wholesale.
ISO/IEC 17025:2005 is an international standard that
specifies the competence and quality management system
requirements for laboratories that provide testing and
calibration services.
BASEC’s laboratory was awarded ISO/IEC 17025:2005
accreditation by UKAS in 2014 and it is one of the highest
levels of recognised quality any testing or calibration
laboratory can attain.
BASEC – UK
Website:
▲ ▲ Vertical ladder fire testing