Fire Door and Fire Building Enclosure Scheme (Q-Plus Certification)

CCS Q-Plus Product Certification covers the complete fire door/partition set including the door leaf, door frame, hardware, glazing and intumescent strips. The scope of the certification is given in the Test report assessment which is based on full scale fire tests to British, American, European and other equivalent standards.
The manufacturer must also provide standard installation instructions which will ensure that the doorset is fitted to the required standard.

TEST EVIDENCE

Any manufacturer who is CCS Q-Plus certified must manufacture a fire door/partition which has been tested. There are 2 ways that this can be achieved.

Firstly

A manufacturer can design his own fire door/partition to achieve a particular rating and then have it tested. A number of tests may be needed to achieve the full scope of approval that is required by the manufacture.
For timber product the design will be different for each rating. Therefore, the design for each fire rating will be need to be tested.
For steel doors the same basic design can be used for ratings up to 120 minutes when the door is for integrity only. Different glazing systems will be required for different fire ratings.
Once the testing has been completed a test report assessment is required for each fire rating. This document will define the scope of the approval. This will include

  • Maximum leaf size for each configuration
  • Leaf construction details
  • Frame details including minimum sizes, density and moisture content
  • Glazing details including bead dimensions, density of timber, fixing details and glazing system
  • Intumescent details size of intumescent strip and manufacturer
  • Hardware limitation
  • Installation details include door gap sizes and protection between door frame and wall.

Secondly

A manufacturer of timber fire product can use a timber door core which has been successfully tested in a complete doorset and has Q-Plus Product Certification.

The tested door set using the Q-Plus Certified door core will have its own assessment which the manufacturer must follow.

The manufacturer must get a letter of authorization from the supplier of the timber door core which will allow him to use the test report/ assessment.

The manufacturer has now got available to him an assessment which will define how to manufacture the fire door/partition and limitations associated with the design.

FACTORY PRODUCTION CONTROL

The manufacturer of the fire door/partition must have records in place which demonstrate that a fire door/partition has been made in accordance with the assessments.

These records form a VERY IMPORTANT part of the certification process as they demonstrate that the door was made in accordance with the test report assessment.

The following systems and controlled documents need to be in place as a minimum to demonstrate that the fire door/partition is being manufactured correctly.

  • Controlled shop drawings are required for each product covered under the CCS Q-Plus Product Certification. These drawings contain the key design requirements relating to the design of the fire door/partition. These drawings compliment the test report assessments.
  • The drawings will reference the material specification required to build a fire door/partition.
  • The purchasing procedure and goods inwards checks will ensure that the correct materials have been purchased. A vital part of the goods inwards checks is to ensure that the timber has the correct moisture content and density and a record of these properties exists.
  • A procedure or flow diagram should be available demonstrating the manufacturing process. This should include all activities relating to the monitoring and control measures in place to build the fire door/partition.

These are:

  • Selection of suitable material, which will have been checked as part of the goods inwards checks.
  • Inspection points during the manufacturing process.
  • Procedure explaining how the door components are batched labeled and controlled during the manufacturing process.
  • Final inspection process and process for products which need to be re-worked or condemned if they do not conform to the work instructions.
  • A procedure to control the use of labels. The use of a Q-Plus label on every door is mandatory.
  • A customer feedback form for complaints etc.
  • A contract review procedure to ensure that the product supplied complies with the test report assessment and Scope of their Certificate This procedure will require checks to be in place during the approval stages between the consultant and the manufacturer.
  • A procedure is required which shows how the details from the drawings are related to work instruction.
  • The necessary people have gone through some type of training and/or learning which demonstrated they understand the Test report/assessments and can implement what is in the assessment.
  • An individual need to be designated with overall responsibility for Q-Plus.
  • One way of demonstrating that the company is capable of producing products consistently is to have ISO 9001.

THE Q-PLUS FIRE DOOR AND FIRE BUILDING ENCLOSURE PROCESS

  • A company which requires Q-Plus will have to undertake the following steps:
  • Obtain a test report/assessment based on the manufacturers test evidence or a test report/assessment from a Q-Plus certified blank manufacturer.
  • Set up the required procedures within the factory
  • CCS could then do a pre assessment, prior to undertaking the initial audit to establish any gaps in the system.
  • When requested by the manufacturer CCS would undertake an initial Audit. During this audit the auditor will check out that the procedures are being implemented, witness the manufacture of a fire door/partition. During the audits any problems identified during the audit will be referenced as Non-compliances. Certification will be award once the manufacturer has implemented ways to stop the problems identified in the audit.

A Q-Plus audit will be undertaken Once a year if the company does operate a certified ISO 9001 system.
A Q-Plus audit will be undertaken Twice a year if the company does not operate a certified ISO 9001 system.