FM Approvals, part of FM Global - a worldwide insurance and risk management enterprise, is an international third party testing and certification service - for property loss prevention products and services used in commercial and industrial facilities.

Discover all there is to know about FM Approvals, as well as our range of FM Approved products.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can we prove the fire performance of our panels?

All claims made on fire performance in terms of both reaction to fire and fire resistance are backed up by testing and certification from third party testing and approvals bodies. The fire performance and the standards that our panels test to can be categorised in two ways:

• Reaction to fire; how does the insulated panel respond to a fire in terms of combustibility and ignitability, i.e. does the material contribute to fire growth

• Fire resistance; what is the ability of an insulated panel system to withstand fire and continue to perform its given function and/or provide containment of a fire for a specified time.

What is the reaction to fire test standards you work to comply with building regulations and statutory guidance?

Kingspan Insulated Panels achieve the following reaction to fire performance in tests specified for regulatory purposes and large-scale tests developed by the insurance industry as summarised below.

Reaction to Fire Building Regulations Tests:

• European Standard EN 13501-1: fire classification B-s1, d0.

• European Standard EN 13501-5: external fire exposure to roof (B Roof t (4))

• BS 8414-2: BR 135; fire performance of external cladding systems is achieved by Micro-rib and KS1000RW (please contact our Tech-eXchange team for product specific details)

What FM standards have we been approved to and what application do they cover?

• FM 4880 - Class 1 Internal wall and ceiling panels without height restriction (No structural restrictions in terms of purlin spans and gauges)

• FM 4881 - Class  1 External wall panel systems without height restriction (currently restricted on products to 2m spans and 2mm purlin gauge but wall panels are being retested to more relevant spans and gauges for the UK and Irish market with expected certification due September)

• FM 4882 - Class 1 Interior wall and ceiling panels for smoke sensitive occupancies (needed in many pharmaceutical manufacturing, storage areas, food preparation projects).

• FM 4471 - Class 1 Roof panel systems (KS1000RW approved with a 1.5mm gauge purlin and 1.8m centres)

What is the fire resistance test standards that you work to in relation to FM as a voluntary third party certification?

We have fire resistance rating tested and certified by independent, third-party testing and approvals bodies such as WarringtonFire and Efectis to EN 1364-1 or BS 476-22.

FM have recently added a fire resistance standard to their portfolio, FM4540. Kingspan plan on gaining fire resistance ratings to the new FM 4540 standard as soon as possible. Once again it is worth noting that this FM standard is based on building regulations tests and not a bespoke FM test, specifically EN 1364-1.

What is the fire resistance test standards you use to comply with statutory guidance?

Fire resistance tests refer to testing of systems designed to contain or resist fire over a specified period of time. They are very different to reaction to fire tests but are sometimes confused. Fire resistance classifications are often expressed as a period of time such as '1 hour fire resistance' or two numbers such as 30/30, or a combination of letters and numbers such as EI30. When it comes to fire resistance for Kingspan Insulated Panels, the most common elements to consider are integrity (E) and insulation (I).

Integrity - the length of time that the insulated panel retains its integrity against flames or hot gases in a standard fire. For example, if sustain flaming or hot gases were to break through the panel after 100 minutes, the insulated panel would achieve E90 or 90 minutes integrity (as 90 minutes is the highest classification under 100 minutes).

Insulation - the time it takes to produce and average increase in temperature of 140° above the initial temperature or an increase in temperature at one point of 180°C above the initial temperature on the unexposed (cold) side of the insulated panel.

For a full list of fire resistance values, please visit here.

What is the reaction to fire test standards you work to in relation to FM as a voluntary third party certification?

To gain FM approvals, our products have had to go through a robust testing regime, testing the panel systems to internal and external fire loads (FM use the terms fire from below and fire from above). In addition to fire, FM standards also cover smoke, wind, hail and structural in their external roof and wall standards.

FM testing is backed up by a thorough factory surveillance auditing and sampling process. FM Approvals also carry out first audits and production witnessing of the tested products to ensure full traceability and consistency of the tested panel and current manufactured product.