- Author
-
American Society for Testing and Materials
- Title
- ASTM Fire Test Standards.
- Coporate
- American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, PA
- Book or Conf
- ASTM Fire Test Standards,
ASTM, Philadelphia, PA,
1500 p.,
1999
- Keywords
-
fire tests
|
standards
- Abstract
- This fifth edition of the compilation of fire standards is sponsored by ASTM Committee E-5 on Fire Standards. The compilation contains 170 standards including test methods, guides, practices, specifications, and terminologies. ASTM has issued a Policy on Fire Standards (section F2.2 of the Blue Book, Form andS#e ofAsTMStanda~ds), which states that fire standards can be of three kinds: fire-test-response standards, fire hazard assessment standards, or fire risk assessment standards. As of the issuance of this compilation, no fire hazard assessment standards or fire risk assessment standards have yet been issued, although there have been guides and there is extensive work in progress. Thus, the criterion used for choosing a standard for inclusion in this compilation was whether it addressed "the response of materials, products, or assemblies to heat or flame." Committee E-5 has under its jurisdiction 44 standards (34 test methods, 1 terminology, 7 guides and 2 practices), of which 9 have been withdrawn in recent years (8 test methods and 1 practice), to make way for more state-of-the-art technology. In some of those cases, work is in progress to draft replacement standards, while in some other cases the issues in question are being addressed in different ways. The remaining 135 standards are under the responsibility of 31 other technical committees, and include 12 specifications, 7 guides, 12 practices, 2 terminologies, and 1 index, as well as test methods. The vast majority of the standards included in this compilation have been amended from the ones included in the Fourth Edition, issued in 1993. This compilation is intended as a technical resource for building code officials, the fire services, the fire research community, fire prevention engineers, fire testing laboratories, manufacturing companies, and all of those who are interested in the issue of fire safety. ASTM Committee E-5 was formed in 1904 for the purpose of developing, revising, and approving (a) fire standards intended for analysis and assessment of the fire performance of materials, products, and systems within their relevant environment, and (b) fire test standards intended to measure and describe the response of materials, products, and systems to sources of heat or flame under controlled conditions. In 1998, Committee E-5 generated a new list of goals as part of a new strategic plan: (I) Maintain and update existing fire standards, with emphasis on those most widely used. (2) Develop new fire standards for regulatory, quality control, product development, and screening purposes. (3) Develop new fire standards which can provide data for fire safety engineering calculations. (4) Develop fire safety engineering methodology. (5) Coordinate with users and potential users of fire standards to ensure most efficient resolution of their needs.