The ASTM E162 – Taking Fire Safety Testing to a Whole New Level
Where fire safety matters, that is where you will find ASTM E162. This is simply the standard in which many manufacturing companies pattern their fire testing practices against in an effort to ensure that their premises and the sproducts they make are one hundred percent safe. Little did you know that there is a lot that goes into fire safety more than just ensuring that something will not burst into flames in the slightest way!
You might be asking yourself, what is ASTM E162 anyway? As mentioned, it is the standard for fire testing. It is special such that while it is quite in demand with the manufacturing industry, it is also useful in a wide variety of situations and industries. The ASTM E162 fire testing standard screens the surface flammability of many materials commonly found in the manufacturing process, but at the same time it is applicable in industries such as public transportation (buses and trains), home construction and recreational vehicles. A lot of these things we use on a daily basis, and are only turned over to their respective owners only after safety has been assured.
It is not a new thing, this ASTM E162 fire testing standard. It goes way back in the sixties, in an effort to modernize and economize ways of ensuring that things do not blow up in your face as soon as you use them. The method attempts to recreate the same level of fire and heat exposure in an actual or normal setting, then either gives the thumbs up or thumbs down depending on the result. It became popular because it is less costly to run compared to the older method, which was also quite cumbersome.
One of the best things about ASTM E162 is the fact that the sample requirement has been reduced to a mere six by eighteen inches, whereas the older type required a twenty by twenty-five inch sample. For smaller industries or manufacturers that produce smaller outputs, ASTM E162 spells better things with regard to fire testing because they do not need to comply with the bigger radius sample. But for additional assurance of fire testing and safety, the ASTM E162 method will require manufacturers to submit four samples for testing as opposed to just one. As you can see, it is a very strict standard and ensures manufacturers and end users of safety.
One can already deduce by this point that all the fire testing practices have been conducted in laboratories that are nothing short of state of the art. Registered professionals oversee each and every testing activity, and are quite strict in passing or failing their samples. If you have a manufacturing outfit that goes for testing and ends up with a failing mark, you will be glad to know that they also offer measures of how to beef up the safety factor of your operations so you will know exactly what to do when the results of fire testing end up in the opposite direction of what you intended.
Fire testing : http://www.ntainc.com/testing-services/fire-laboratory.php is one of the most serious things most manufacturers ensure. Thanks to ASTM E162 : http://www.ntainc.com/testing-services/standards/astm-e162.php consumers are ensured that the products they receive have passed the fire safety test with flying colors.