Fire Protection

Document B

National Building Regulations Approved Document B deals with aspects of fire safety for buildings. This is separated into 5 main sections B1 – B5 and covers the following aspects in the event of fire.

1. The means of warning and escape for personnel.
2. The spread of fire over internal linings.
3. Building stability – this covers fire separation within and between buildings and inhibiting spread of smoke and fire in unseen areas.
4. Spread of fire externally.
5. Access and provisions for fire fighters.

British Standards

The British Standards most relevant to aspects of fire protection incorporating the use of plasterboard and associated products are as follows:

BS476: Part4: 1970 (1984)	Non-combustibility test for materials.
BS476: Part 6, 1989	Method of test for fire propagation for products.
BS476: Part 7: 1997	Method of classification of the surface spread of flames of products.
BS476: Part 20: 1987	Test methods and criteria for the fire resistance of elements of building construction (General principles).
BS476: Part 21: 1987	Methods for determination of the fire resistance of load bearing elements of construction.
BS476: Part 22: 1987	Methods for determination of the fire resistance of non-load bearing elements of construction.
BS476: Part: 1987	Methods for determination of the contribution of components to the fire resistance of a structure.
BS1230: Part 1: 1985	(1994) Specification for plasterboard excluding materials submitted to secondary operations.
BS5268: Part 4: Section 4.1: 1978	Recommendations for calculating fire resistance of timber members.
BS5588: Part 5: 1991	Code of practice for firefighting stairs and lifts.
BS8000: Part 8: 1994	Code of practice for plasterboard partitions and dry linings.
BS8212: Part 1: 1995	Code of practice for dry lining and partitioning using gypsum plasterboard.
Other references	HTM56

Note: there are regional differences in regulations for Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.