Understanding and Reporting Early Fire Hazard Indicies

This information relates to the old Fire Ratings. As of July 2012 we are working on updating this information to tie in with the new regulations.

Providing Fire Safety Information for Paint Systems. Understanding and Reporting Early Fire Hazard indicies.

During the consent process designers must prove that proposed structures will meet a number of fire safety standards including the mandatory provisions of the New Zealand Building Code fire safety clauses:

C1 – Outbreak of Fire
C2 – Means of Escape
C3 – Spread of Fire
C4 – Structural Stability During Fire

Clause C3 - Spread of Fire is designed to safeguard people from injury or illness when evacuating a building during fire. This is the aspect of fire safety that paint manufacturers are often called to comment on.

The New Zealand Building Code requires that new buildings need to have various areas within the building designed to limit the spread of fire. They specify the exact EFH Ratings required for each type of area.

Early Fire Hazard (EFH) indices in accordance with an Australian Standard Test method known as: AS 1530 Part 3, 1999 “Test for early fire hazard properties of materials.” There are four indices measured. The Spread of Flame and the Smoke Development Indices are the most commonly requested and used.

Early Fire Hazard Indicies (227kb)