10 / 80
8
Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2014
www.read-wca.comIndustry
news
DR Jeremy Hodge, chief executive of
the British Approvals Service for
Cables (BASEC), anticipates a strong
demand for the soon-to-open cable
fire testing facility, as the cable industry
moves to implement the Construction
Products Regulation 2011 (CPR).
The test laboratories at BASEC’s
headquarters in Milton Keynes, UK, are
into the commissioning phase and will
go fully live by the end of this year.
Dr Hodge says the three new
re-configurable fire test labs and a
ladder rack rig, joining BASEC’s
existing smoke and halogen testing
facilities, represent a considerable
investment for the approvals and
testing body and further expands the
capability of the largest dedicated
testing facility in Europe.
He says BASEC expects there will be
increased demand from its current
clients for the fire testing of cables in
accordance with the CPR, and the test
labs will also be open to other cable
manufacturers and traders seeking to
conform to the regulations as they
become applicable to cables.
“In anticipation of this, BASEC has
made a substantial investment in
laboratories,
equipment
and
a
dedicated team of staff and we have
expanded the range of our services to
meet the demands of the industry,”
said Dr Hodge.
“At Milton Keynes we have combined
the expertise and experience of our
staff with state-of-the-art equipment
within first-class facilities to serve our
clients from around the world who hold
BASEC approvals.
“And with the implementation of the
CPR for cables we also expect there
will now be a demand from other
manufacturers who do not have
access to the kind of facilities we can
offer, such as production/certification
and development testing of their
products. We will also be able to turn
test samples around quickly and
competitively.”
BASEC laboratories can carry out a
number of cable fire tests: BS EN
50200; BS EN 50200 Annex E; BS
8434-2; BS 6387 CWZ and others
based on IEC standards, and will
shortly also encompass a BS EN
50399 3.5-metre-tall ladder rack rig for
vertical fire tests on cables. The Milton
Keynes headquarters also has a 3m
3
smoke chamber for smoke emission
tests (EN 61034-2).
BASEC – UK
Website
:
www.basec.org.ukNew lab facilities to meet
demand for fire tests
Graphics bigstockphoto.com Artist Eky Studio
❍
The BS EN 50200 Annexe E fire and water test at BASEC