Standards and more
SANS 1475 – Well – as usual – nothing to report and no idea when this is even expected to go out for public comment. We will notify all members the very minute we hear anything on this.
FFETA members urged to sell and recondition only approved fire extinguishers.
As the South African national standard for building regulations state that all fire extinguishers installed in a building should be certified, FFETA members need to take responsibility for selling and reconditioning only approved products.
SANS 10400 Part T states the following requirement for portable fire extinguishers in paragraph 4.37.3:
Portable fire extinguishers installed in a building shall comply with the requirements in SANS 1910 and shall be installed, maintained and serviced by competent persons in accordance with SANS 1475-1
It also states the following requirement for mobile fire extinguishers in paragraph 4.38.1: A fire extinguisher that exceeds the capacities prescribed in SANS 1910 .. and that is fitted with
wheels for transportation, shall be deemed to be a mobile fire extinguisher....(and) shall comply
with the requirements of SANS 11601
Thus owners of buildings need to ensure that the portable or mobile fire extinguishers they
purchased comply with the requirements of SANS 1910 or SANS 11601. This can be established
when purchasing the extinguishers to request the supplier to issue a permit stating that the
manufacturer of the fire extinguishers can apply a certification mark for the relevant standard to
their product. You are advised that the suppliers also provide the schedule to the permit to apply
the certification mark. This schedule contains the brand names or trademarks which may be used
in conjunction with the certification mark. The owner needs to ensure that the certificate specifies
the relevant standard such as SANS 1910, that the permit is numbered, that the permit is issued to
the manufacturer’s entity, that the permit’s expire date is valid and that the permit has a SANAS
product certification body stamp on it.
The certification can further be verified by means of the certification mark displayed on the
manufacturer’s instruction label affixed to the extinguisher.
Extinguishers are often sold into the market by 1475 permit holders and their staff. FFETA thus urge their members to follow due diligence by ensuring that the extinguishers they purchase and resell are duly certified. Members should request valid certification permits from their supplier or the manufacturer and view all instruction labels to ensure that it carries the relevant mark and that the manufacturer’s details correspond with the permit.
Once these products need to be reconditioned in accordance with SANS 1475 Part 1, the 1475
permit holder and registered technicians once again need to review and verify the manufacturer’s
label and corresponding certificates to ensure that the mark is displayed on the instruction label.
The South African market has been flooded through many years with unapproved products. Many challenges also face entities which aspire to certify their products.
A major challenge is that currently manufacturers are struggling to obtain approval of new mobile fire extinguishers and a manufacturer which had approval on their mobile units until recently, informed FFETA that their product is not approved any more and they face major challenges to obtain approval from certification bodies. FFETA advises its members to ensure that product is approved before they sell it. Should the product not be approved, FFETA members should advise the client so if they still want to purchase the product, they have been advised in writing that it is not approved and when due, cannot be reconditioned, refilled or pressure-tested.