152 - Why we need good standards with Björn Sundström

Fire Science Show

In this episode, we dive into standardization efforts for fire safety. An entire universe of testing laboratories, committees, auditors, and certifiers work together to provide product end-user fire safety classification. So, in the end, the user does not have to worry about what the product will do, as its relevant characteristics are well known from the certificate and, to some extent, from the standards.
But that's a perfect world. In the real world, it is perhaps not that simple. Crafting a good standard takes time and effort. And numerous features make standard good. This is the discussion between me and Björn Sundström, teaching fire professionals in Luleå Technical University and who is with Brandforsk, and someone who spent most of his professional career in fire laboratories in Scandinavia.
As mentioned in the intro, I also highly recommend other Fire Science Show episodes on the subject. I think Bjorn's episode provides excellent background, so perhaps they are worth a revisit if you have already heard them.

• 070 - Fire resistance is whatever you want it to be with Piotr Turkowski
• 089 - Designing law by disasters (or not?) with Birgitte Messerschmidt
• 140 - Development and implementation of the SBI test with Rudolf van Mierlo

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

Chapters

1. Importance of Fire Safety Standardization (00:00:00)

2. Complexity in Fire Safety Testing (00:11:11)

3. Standards Validation in Fire Safety (00:27:24)

4. Challenges in Developing Industry Standards (00:36:49)

5. The Importance of Testing Standards (00:48:49)