What is BS 8519:2020 about?
Buildings are getting bigger and their active fire protection systems more complicated. BS 8519:2020 covers how to select and install fire-resistant power and control cable systems that, in the event of a fire, will maintain their circuit integrity for life safety and fire-fighting.
Who is BS 8519:2020 for?
- Designers
- Contractors
- Fire engineers
- Regulators and enforcers including building control bodies
- Fire authorities
- Health and safety inspectors.
- Equipment suppliers and manufacturers
Why should you use BS 8519:2020?
This British Standard gives guidance and recommendations on the selection and installation of fire-resistant power and control cable systems that need to maintain their circuit integrity for life safety and fire-fighting.
It’s primarily intended for use in buildings which, due to their size, height, form or use, require the installation of life safety and fire-fighting systems, e.g. sprinkler pumps, wet riser pumps, smoke control systems, fire-fighting and evacuation lifts or other systems as required by a fire engineering strategy. It can also be used for systems that need to maintain their circuit integrity during a fire because the function they support is critical for business continuity, property protection or environmental protection reasons.
The standard gives specific recommendations for electrical system design for such applications, and for fire survival times. It identifies electrical loads defined as life safety and fire-fighting and the factors to be accounted for by the engineer when selecting and specifying the performance requirements of the electrical distribution system needed to maintain circuit integrity under defined fire conditions for a specified period, referred to as the fire survival time.
BS 8519:2020 makes reference to the recommendations of BS 9999 and BS 9991, with regard to the design and installation of the electrical distribution systems for life safety and fire-fighting equipment.
It also makes reference to three categories of circuits required to maintain their circuit integrity under defined fire conditions for varying fire survival times of 30 min, 60 min and 120 min.
Appropriate cable tests are identified for each cable category derived from applicable British Standards assessing cable performance under conditions of fire as might be expected in an actual fire incident.
BS 8519:2020 aims to ensure that the level of circuit fire integrity is not compromised by other components of the whole electrical distribution system, including cable glands, terminations, joints and cable support systems.
What’s new about BS 8519:2020?
This is a full revision of BS 8519:2010, reflecting changes to BS 9999 and BS 9991 and to other industry standards such as BG-70. The principal changes are:
a) Definitions added for:
i. Average power output
ii. Selectivity (discrimination)
iii. Building fabric enclosure
iv. Cable protective system
v. Electrical equipment enclosure
vi. Other critical systems
b) Added recognition of other critical systems, other than life safety or fire-fighting applications
c) Added reference to fuel storage requirements in BS EN 12101-10 (Clause 6)
d) Added recommendation to include fuel polishing equipment (Clause 6)
e) Added information on uninterruptable power supplies, UPS (Clause 6)
f) Added life safety generator recommendations
g) Added roof-mounted generator recommendations
h) Correction made to Table 1 sub-main power distribution minimum cable category
i) Clause 7 generally updated for high voltage (HV) and low voltage (LV) cable routes
j) Clause 9 revised to include further recommendations for the automatic transfer switch
k) Clause 12 revised to include the recommendation for internal and external fire stopping to maintain the switchroom fire compartmentation and the need to cater for the thermal expansion of the cable protective enclosure
l) Added further detailed recommendations included in Clause 12 for the design and selection of the cable enclosure support systems
m) Clause 17 junction boxes revised test protocol identified
n) Clause 18 fire-resistant busbar systems added
- o) Clause 19 inverter text relocated to new subclause 20.2, smoke control systems
p) Clause 20 multi-zoned smoke ventilation systems text relocated to new subclause 20.2, smoke control systems
q) Added Clause 20 providing recommendations for life safety and fire-fighting applications
r) Added Annex A on selection and specification of uninterruptable power supplies (UPS)