The fire protection classes are divided into different levels and fulfil a great purpose for the safety and containment of the fire risk. The fire protection testing of the European class EN13501-1 applies for all floorings. Here, all floorings are classified and subjected to special tests to determine their flammability.
In accordance with the European class EN13501-1 for floorings, the additional designation “fl” for “flooring” exists. This classification is made by fire tests and can therefore be performed exactly.
What does the EN classification “EN13501-1 Bfl-s1” for a workstation mat mean in brief:
- EN13501-1 is the abbreviation for the classification standard. It defines the procedure for classification of the behaviour of building products in fire.
- B is the class of the building product = low-flammable
- “fl” is the abbreviation for “flooring” which is treated separately.
“s” is the abbreviation for smoke. If the rubber material is classified as s1, this means no or hardly any smoke development.
LOW-FLAMMABLE – WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
It generally applies that: Only floorings with the fire protection certification “low-flammable” may be installed in public buildings. Standard regulations apply in Austria, Germany and the rest of Europe to prevent complex catastrophes in the event of fire. The floorings and, especially, the protective floor mats play an important role here. Just imagine that a fire breaks out at a welding workstation in a production company, highly inflammable materials ignite and the fire spreads within minutes or even seconds. The whole production company would go up in flames and the employees would face mortal danger due to the additional development of smoke. EN13501 takes all these risks into consideration – its specifications and directives therefore have an important justification.
For this reason, only floorings with the certification “low-flammable” may be installed in closed buildings. This ensures, on the one hand, that the certified floors do not help the fire to spread and, on the other hand, the company’s safety level is considerably enhanced. Certified floors for production halls with flying sparks, for example, or for public buildings such as exhibition and event halls and shops must carry either the old classification B1 or the new classification Bfl-s1. The classification “non-flammable” for floorings only applies for the public areas that have no sprinkler system.
The ergonomic ERGOLASTEC® Fire workstation mats have Bfl-s1 classification and can be used without hesitation in the different areas in which they fulfil their purpose.
SAFETY AT THE WORKPLACE with ERGOLASTEC
The ERGOLASTEC® protective floor mats carry the Bfl-s1 fire protection class and are therefore qualified for different application purposes in the industrial sector. They are made of high-quality rubber material and are pressed into shape. Here, it is important to know that the whole rubber mat was tested and examined and classified in accordance with EN13501-1. With the Bfl-s1 classification, the ERGOLASTEC® protective floor mat comes under the category “low-flammable” and is therefore suitable for a number of different applications with walking or standing work areas:
- Production halls
- Grinding and welding workstations
- Floorings for trade fairs
- Retail trade – use at point of sale in shops
- Public buildings
- Closed buildings
- and much more
The ERGOLASTEC® fire is flame-protected in accordance with EN13501-1/flooring tests and therefore also suitable for use in public buildings. Its fire behaviour was classified as Bfl. The additional classification with regard to smoke development is s1.
In cooperation with Gesenkschmiede Bernhofer in Austria, our high-quality ERGOLASTEC® fire workstation mat was additionally tested for its flame-resistance properties. And the result is convincing: The flame-inhibiting protective floor mat retains its shape even at high temperatures (1025°C)!
See for yourselves – Video!