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Safer Cables to Protect your Greatest Value
If we rate a building for energy consumption, noise protection and health -
why not for safety?
Does safety improve the value of a building? Does a safer design of building improve the
value of a Designers’ work?
Safety, as protection of Human Health, Animal Health and Goods, may lead to a direct
economic saving as well as having a strong emotive impact.
Fires are a real threat in constructions, Safety in case of fire is one of the six essential
requirements defined by the European Parliament that Designers have to comply with.
Fire. A global concern
(Source: www.safety-during-fire.com)
Fires have a high cost in loss of Human life. About a third of fires
originate inside buildings. In Europe the median fire death rate per 100.000 inhabitants(1) was near 1 in 2003 and 2004, equivalent to 30.000 deaths per year.
The UK Department for Communities and Local Government states that:
"
the most commonly identified cause of death from a fire incident is being overcome
by gas or
smoke"(2)
which accounts for 44% of all deaths. Another influential source, the Swedish SRSA (Swedish
Rescue Services Agency) in a report on Fire Prevention states that: "In 1950 the average time from
ignition of a fire to flashover was 15 minutes. Then, 25 years ago, that time was down to 5 minutes
and now fatal conditions can occur after 3 minutes. This change has come about because of the
increase of plastics in our homes, nothing else."(3)
Fires have also a significant impact on our economy. In a recent report, CTIF (International
Association of Fire and Rescue Service) estimates that:
"
the total economic costs of fires amount to around 1% of gross domestic product
in
most advanced countries"(4)
Fire Safety
Fire safety is a component of building safety. It concerns safety measures to
prevent fires or limit their effects. The safety measures can aim to detect or suppress fires (e.g.
fire alarm systems, sprinklers) or contain and slow the spread of fires (e.g. flame spread, heat
release, flaming droplets, smoke and gas emission). Cables play an important part in either
measure. Their performance is defined both
Resistance to Fire
and
Reaction to Fire
Prysmian commitment to safety
Our Mission is to supply our Customers with the most appropriate, innovative
and technologically advanced cables for each application.
Where safety is concerned and a reliable and competitive solution is needed, Prysmian is
able to fully support the safer solution without being limited through technology or materials.
Prysmian also wishes to communicate with end-users, opinion leaders and electrical professionals
about the great importance of fire safety of cables for people and animals, and the importance of
choosing safer cabling when designing and constructing buildings.
The fire performance of cables is critical in fire safety engineering of many buildings but
many end-users lack such awareness. In the lack of national regulations, the decision to adopt
safer cables is primarily as a consequence of the correct information being provided to decision
makers.
The Prysmian Group has for many years been committed to designing and producing competitive
Fire Resistant and Low Fire-Hazard cables, and continues to widen its product range in order to
offer its customers safer cables to protect both lives and buildings.
Prysmian's Fire Resistant and Afumex (Low Fire-Hazard) cables have been adopted for many
major projects throughout the world including the Burj Dubai tower, the tallest man-made structure
in the world and the new Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit in Singapore.
Prysmian’s social responsibility also extends to protection of the environment, with Afumex
cables representing an improvement from an eco-friendly point of view, due to reduced emissions of
smoke and harmful effluent under fire conditions. Furthermore Afumex cables, at the end of their
lives, can be disposed of through simpler, cheaper and cleaner treatments compared to standard
cables.
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