News that the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is due to start checking for compliance to BS EN 1279, should serve as a wakeup call for IGU manufacturers and could potentially present one of the biggest challenges the industry has ever faced.
The OPSS, which was set up following the Dame Judith Hackitt report into Grenfell, has the power to visit companies unannounced and has already demonstrated that it means business when it revealed wide scale non-compliance in the manufacturing of heat-soaked glass earlier this year.
All the companies that were audited were found to be non-compliant, although in many cases it was the associated paperwork that was found to be out of order, rather than the quality of the product itself.
Some of the companies that were audited were ordered to stop manufacturing, and many others were told to improve their processes.
While you might be thinking that this sounds like nothing more than a slap across the wrist, audits for BS EN 1279 represent a much larger potential problem because – unlike toughened glass – IGU production is at much greater volume and will represent the main source of income for many businesses.
Crucially, the OPSS now has the equipment to accurately test for gas concentration levels within IGUs – for double and triple glazed units – and so for the first time has the ability to police a process that has historically been very hard to manage.
This means that if you’re one of the 600 or so IGU manufacturers in the UK and you get a knock on the door from the OPSS, you will have to produce all the correct evidence for all parts of BS EN 1279, including the testing required for gas concentration levels – and that evidence will need to match up to what’s being produced on your lines, because they can select units at random and check that they contain the correct volume of gas.
If you’re not compliant, the OPSS can order those lines to be shut down until compliance is demonstrated as well as recall product that’s gone out the door.
According to Andy Jones, director of Glass Check UK – a new service that has been launched to help IGU manufacturers keep on top of compliance for BS EN 1279 – the buck doesn’t just stop at glass companies because installers are also required to fit product that is legally compliant, putting further pressure on suppliers to demonstrate that product is fit for purpose.
Click here for a full Glass Times Live video with Andy Jones to learn more about how OPSS audits on BS EN 1279 could impact the industry and what you should be doing to prepare for compliance if you have not already done so.
Are you compliant, or complacent with BS EN 1279?
News that the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is due to start checking for compliance to BS EN 1279, should serve as a wakeup call for IGU manufacturers and could potentially present one of the biggest challenges the industry has ever faced.
The OPSS, which was set up following the Dame Judith Hackitt report into Grenfell, has the power to visit companies unannounced and has already demonstrated that it means business when it revealed wide scale non-compliance in the manufacturing of heat-soaked glass earlier this year.
All the companies that were audited were found to be non-compliant, although in many cases it was the associated paperwork that was found to be out of order, rather than the quality of the product itself.
Some of the companies that were audited were ordered to stop manufacturing, and many others were told to improve their processes.
While you might be thinking that this sounds like nothing more than a slap across the wrist, audits for BS EN 1279 represent a much larger potential problem because – unlike toughened glass – IGU production is at much greater volume and will represent the main source of income for many businesses.
Crucially, the OPSS now has the equipment to accurately test for gas concentration levels within IGUs – for double and triple glazed units – and so for the first time has the ability to police a process that has historically been very hard to manage.
This means that if you’re one of the 600 or so IGU manufacturers in the UK and you get a knock on the door from the OPSS, you will have to produce all the correct evidence for all parts of BS EN 1279, including the testing required for gas concentration levels – and that evidence will need to match up to what’s being produced on your lines, because they can select units at random and check that they contain the correct volume of gas.
If you’re not compliant, the OPSS can order those lines to be shut down until compliance is demonstrated as well as recall product that’s gone out the door.
According to Andy Jones, director of Glass Check UK – a new service that has been launched to help IGU manufacturers keep on top of compliance for BS EN 1279 – the buck doesn’t just stop at glass companies because installers are also required to fit product that is legally compliant, putting further pressure on suppliers to demonstrate that product is fit for purpose.
Click here for a full Glass Times Live video with Andy Jones to learn more about how OPSS audits on BS EN 1279 could impact the industry and what you should be doing to prepare for compliance if you have not already done so.
Luke Wood
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