Fire safety engineering:
Quarterly newsletter - August 2017
Monideep Dey, PhD
This newsletter by Monideep Dey is published every quarter to inform subscribers of developments in Fire Safety Engineering (FSE), especially on topics related to conformity assessment of fire safety designs based on FSE. Monideep Dey, the principal of Deytec, Inc. served as Chairman (Convenor) of ISO TC 92 SC 4 WG 7 from 2013 to 2017 instituting significant improvements in ISO FSE technical standards.
Deytec, Inc. is a company member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and a voting member of the International Conformity Assessment Committee which is the U.S. interface to the ISO Council Committee on Conformity Assessment (ISO CASCO). ISO CASCO writes standards and guides for the effective operation of conformity assessment bodies and activities.
Deytec, Inc. proposes development of a scheme
for review of P-B fire safety designs
Conformity assessments of fire safety designs based on FSE presently is a costly process with a high level of uncertainty for the applicant. Generally peer reviews of designs are conducted by the AHJ or a 3rd party that can consume considerable resources. The costs of this process has deterred the more widespread use of modern fire safety design methods.
ISO CASCO has published a wide variety of conformity assessment standards that can be used and be beneficial for conformity assessment of fire safety designs based on FSE. These include standards for product and person certification. Currently, ISO/IEC 17025, 17020, and 17065 are already used for the fire certification of building product assemblies (see Intertek webinar). The same product certification standards can be used for certifying a fire safety design based on FSE, a product.
The benefits will be in the form of higher quality assurance for public safety, decreased costs and uncertainty for applicants as to whether a performance-based design will be approved, and consistency and uniformity in the approval process.
40th ISO General Assembly, Berlin, GERMANY
Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany
Deytec, Inc. plans to attend the upcoming 40th ISO General Assembly in Berlin, GERMANY hosted by DIN from 18-22 September, 2017. In it's welcome message DIN states, "The path to standardization contains lots of new challenges. The world around us is changing at an enormous pace. New technologies and innovations call for new ideas and more flexible standardization processes.... Therefore, the theme of the ISO week in Germany: "Open-minded. Open for change.”
Of particular interest is the meeting of DEVCO, the ISO committee on standardization matters in developing economies, which will contain break-out sessions on standards, regulations and public policy; and the role of the NSB in building the national quality infrastructure (NQI) – focus on Conformity Assessment.
