BS 8492:2009 Telecommunications equipment and telecommunications cabling. Code of practice for fire performance and protection
BS 8492 is the British Standard that gives the recommendations for fire performance and fire protection of all types of telecommunications equipment and telecommunications cabling. It covers:
a) Designing and implementing cabling infrastructures
b) Selecting products, including materials and construction
c) Minimizing fire spread
d) Increasing safety levels for personnel and property.
BS 8492 details the relationship between its recommendations, the usage of premises and fire protection measures.
BS 8492 applies to certain hazardous environments but does not exclude additional requirements that are applicable in particular circumstances, defined, for example, by electrified railways, petrochemical sites, intrinsically safe areas, explosive ordnance storage facilities (bomb dumps).
An informative Annex considers the fire hazard posed by the installation of telecommunications equipment and telecommunications cabling infrastructure within premises.
What does the telecommunications cabling infrastructure include?
Telecommunications cabling, comprising cables, cords and connecting hardware intended to support the operation of information technology equipment as, or as part of, a telecommunications system
- Closures housing connecting hardware
- Cable management systems housing cables and closures
- Cabinets, frames or racks within which closures may be installed.
The telecommunications equipment connected to the cabling generally requires a power supply, often provided by mains power cabling.
With a few notable exceptions, all materials within the telecommunications cabling infrastructure, equipment and associated mains power cabling are flammable.
When subject to fire conditions, telecommunications cabling presents a specific potential threat because:
There are specific areas in which the concentration of cabling is very high (such as equipment rooms and telecommunication rooms [see the generic cabling standards in the BS EN 50173 series]) resulting in increased impact of fire in those areas
Telecommunications cabling is widely distributed throughout buildings within pathways, which create routes for flame spread between areas within the buildings
The types of pathway within which the cable management systems are installed are, to some extent, influenced by the types of premises and their application. Examples of such influences are included in BS 8492.
Fire affects both the health of personnel and the functionality of objects within the vicinity of the fire. The nature of premises dictates the comparative risk of these factors. BS 8492 gives recommendations based on a holistic or “balanced” approach to the mitigation of fire risk in a range of premises.
The recommendations address the risk of ignition, the spread and impact of fire following ignition, taking into account:
- Product selection
- Installation of appropriate fire prevention, detection and suppression systems.
Further recommendations relating to component selection are included, which may be implemented in isolation but only when the nature of the building or its occupancy does not allow the balanced approach to be followed.
The approach to fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings is defined by regulation and described in a number of documents including BS 9999 and the BS 7974 series. BS 8492 is intended to complement these regulations and standards.
Contents of BS 8492 include:
- Scope
- Normative references
- Terms, definitions and abbreviations
- Balanced approach to fire threat mitigation
- Compartmentation within premises
- Management of fire threats associated with telecommunications cabling infrastructure
- Additional measures based on installation type
- Fire protection measures
- Containment
- Detection systems
- Suppression systems
- Fire threat mitigation by cabling component selection
- Ignition and flame spread
- Impact: Heat release
- Impact: Fire effluent
- Consideration of fire hazard
- Bibliography
Tables and figures include:
- Examples of pathways in different types of premises
- Relationship of the processes involved in the ignition, flame spread and impact of fire
- Ranking of fire threats
- Mitigation of fire threat