Bodycote Warringtonfire - Fire Testing, Research and Consultancy

Warringtonfire is part of the materials testing division of the Bodycote Testing Group. Warringtonfire provides a comprehensive range of impartial fire safety services to an international market. Warringtonfire supplies:

• Fire testing
• Inspection of products and systems
• Commissioning of protective products and systems
• Certification of fire protection
• Applied research
• Fire engineering consultancy

Warringtonfire is especially strong in providing expert services to the building and transport industries worldwide. We are active in supplying the rail industry with the services listed above, in terms of both rolling stock and railway infrastructure.

Warringtonfire has laboratories in the UK, Belgium, Italy, Australia and Dubai. In addition, it has offices and consultancies in the UK, Australia, China and Hong Kong. Bodycote also have fire testing labs in Canada.

FIRE TESTS

Warringtonfire laboratories carry out over 200 different reactions to fire and fire resistance tests to national, European and international specifications. Wherever the laboratories are located, Warringtonfire can offer accreditation and approval services according to the appropriate national body.

Reaction to fire tests are used to assess the contribution to fire growth from products such as wall, floor and ceiling linings in train carriages. Different tests are used to evaluate ignitability, flame spread, the rate of heat release, and combustion effluents (e.g. smoke and toxic gases).

Fire resistance tests determine whether a fire barrier (such as those specified in trains between compartments or between an under floor space and a compartment) will maintain its structural integrity and its high temperature insulation properties.

SMOKE CHARACTERISATION TESTS

The following tests are used for characterising smoke:

• ISO 5659-2 smoke chamber
• NFX 70-100 tube furnace
• FTIR spectrometry
• Ion chromatography
• BS 6853 annex D smoke room
• NBS smoke chamber

STUDIES OF FIRE BEHAVIOUR OF RAILWAY PRODUCTS

Warringtonfire laboratories have participated in a large number of national, European and international research projects that have studied the fire behaviour of railway products. FIRESTARR was a particularly valuable project sponsored by the European Commission to develop new reaction to fire and classification systems for products in railway rolling stock. Other projects have studied test methods and analytical procedures for the determination of toxic gases generated by products in different fire scenarios on a train.

RAIL INDUSTRY SAFETY PROJECTS

Warringtonfire consultants have participated in many projects undertaken in the rail industry. These include Thameslink 2000 (Railtrack), London Heathrow Terminal 5 (BAA), Anglo-French Channel Tunnel (Channel Tunnel Safety Authority), toxicity of tunnel linings (Hong Kong Mass Transit) and fire safety engineering (St Pancras Station refit for Eurostar trains).

BODYCOTE MATERIAL TESTING SERVICES

Bodycote Testing Group is a world leader in provision of materials testing services for the railway industry. In addition to the fire testing services described above, Bodycote Materials Testing also offers the following services for the railway industry:

• Non destructive testing and consultancy
• Occupational health and safety testing
• Weather testing services
• Depth profiling investigations using Spectro Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometer (GDOES)
• Environmental testing services (including soils and sediments analysis, and PBET bio-availability testing) and consultancy
• Weld testing services and consultancy
• Potable water testing
• Oil analysis and condition monitoring

DEVELOPMENT OF FIRE STANDARDS WITH TECHNICAL COMMITTEES

The expertise of Warringtonfire is underpinned by a substantial input into the development of fire standards and technical specifications. Warringtonfire experts are involved in technical committees at international, European and national levels. In addition, Warringtonfire staff are active in the European Commission Group of Notified Bodies (Fire Sector Group) and in the European Group of Official Fire Laboratories (EGOLF).