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Fire risks, a reality with high potential consequences
fire break out in Europe every year (source: FEEDS)
property damage due to building fires (Source: TURKSTAT)
of fires are caused by electrical failures (source: Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Fire Department, 2020))
increase in the demand for electricity by 2030 (source: International Energy Agency)
The devastating impact of fires
In its 2022 Global Claims Review, Allianz insurance listed fire as the largest single identified cause of corporate insurance losses with damages running into billions. And the human toll is huge: 4,000 fatalities and 134,000 injuries per year.
With new forms of energy use come new risks. From tablets to smartphones, our reliance on electrically powered digital devices is only growing. The rise of new energy usages in building, such as electric vehicles or rooftop solar panels, increases the burden on domestic wiring systems and the risks related to fire.
Choosing the right cables saves lives
Anticipate risks, secure assets & protect people with Nexans Fire Safety solutions
At Nexans, our priority is to provide our customers and partners with everything they need to design and build safe and sustainable electrification, at every step of their project lifecycle. That’s why we constantly innovate to ensure our cables are at the edge in terms of safety, reliability, electrical performance, and standards compliance.
Our offer is based on three pillars
| We ANTICIPATE fire risks | We SECURE your assets | We PROTECT life |
|---|---|---|
| We are pioneers with a 120-year heritage employing our high-level expertise and know-how, our teams and partners to develop efficient, innovative products and solutions. | Our reliable fire safety cables and solutions mitigage fire impact in buildings, allowing an easier and quicker recovery of your business. At Nexans, we are dedicated to protecting your business growth. | People and the environment are our top priorities. Our cable and solutions ecosystems are designed to save lives with standards of performance that maximize safety and impact. |
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In the event of a fire, two criteria are key for electrical cables to secure a quick and safe evacuation.
- The Reaction to Fire, defined by the fire spread, the smoke opacity, the loss of flaming droplets, and the acidity of emissions. All those elements have a major impact on people’s ability to evacuate on time.
- The Resistance to Fire, defined by the ability of the cable to maintain the functionality (power and communication) of the circuit under a fire, for a certain duration (from 15 to 120 minutes), and with no or minor decay of performance. This performance, defined by national and international standards, ensures the integrity of the safety system’s critical functions.
“ We, Fire Safety expert, help you to be the first line of defense against fires by ensuring the right choice of standards and cables. ”
Construction Products Regulation
CPR EU n°305/2011
Learn more about the Construction Products Regulation:
To which products does the CPR apply?
The CPR applies to all construction products that are permanently incorporated into buildings or civil engineering works (e.g. bridges or tunnels) and thus also to cables: not only power cables but also control cables, communication and fibre optic cables are covered by the CPR when permanently installed in a construction work.
Which cable performances are covered by the CPR?
The harmonised standard for cables EN50575:2014/A1:2016 only specifies requirements for the fire reaction of cables. For this purpose, threshold values are defined for a number of parameters. Based on these threshold values, cables are classified into 7 fire performance levels, the so-called fire classes.
At present, fire resistant cables are explicitly excluded from the CPR.
CPR defines, national regulators choose
The CPR only aims to harmonise technical product information by providing common tests and a common technical language to describe performance levels. The imposition of a performance level in a specific installation environment remains the prerogative of the national regulators.
CPR Classes
Cables subject to the CPR are classified into classes of reaction-to-fire performance. The tests take into account the complete behaviour of cables during a fire, dynamically measured in time and in real installation conditions. This is an important step forward in fire safety.
The degree of contribution to the development of the fire is classified in descending order from Aca to Fca on the basis of the following classification criteria:
- Vertical flame spread
- Heat release
- Fire spread
Class Aca is attributed to cables “that do not burn”, with a low gross heat of combustion according to EN ISO 17016. Do not confuse this with fire-resistant cables.
Classes B1ca, B2ca, Cca and Dca are tested against increasingly lower requirements, class B1ca offering the best performance.
Cables in class Eca only meet the minimum requirements.
In class Fca, cables are classified which do not meet the requirements of the higher classes and are therefore highly flammable.
Additional classification
Only for fire performance classes B1ca to Dca additional characteristics can be tested. This additional classification is designated by a letter:
- s ("smoke"): Smoke production, with possible levels s1, s1a, s1b, s2 and s3.
- d ("droplets"): Flaming droplets/particles, possible levels being d0, d1 and d2.
- a ("acidity"): Acidity and conductivity, with possible levels a1, a2 and a3.
For the three characteristics s, d and a, the lowest index number indicates the best performance. The highest index number stands for "no performance determined" or for not meeting the requirements.
Related document
COMMUNIQUE ON GENERAL TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION WORKS, CONSTRUCTION, MACHINERY AND ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS
DownloadNEXANS Fire Safety Solutions
Nexans Fire Safety is our commitment to your safe and sustainable electrification. It is a full range of cable at the edge of innovation, that will help you to anticipate risks, secure your assets, and protect life. For applications requiring improved fire behaviour - for example for buildings with a complex structure or with many people or people with disabilities or reduced mobility - Nexans has brought together its best-performing cables under the name Nexans Fire Safety.
Full range of fire rated cables:
Anticipate the future adopting Nexans fire safety product range
The Nexans Fire Safety range is already available and can contribute to changing the level of safety in your projects. This range is further structured according to performance level.
This range is further structured according to performance level.
- Nexans Low fire hazard cables: a wide range fitting the local regulations, building types, and electrical applications. They significantly delay the propagation of a fire, thus gaining precious time for evacuation and fire-fighting, reducing to a minimum opaque smoke and acid gases, the prime cause of fire-related deaths, and damage to equipment and structures
- Nexans Fire resistant cables: based on mica tape technology following the national standards. Fire-resistant cables ensure the integrity of function during a fire by enabling the security systems (video surveillance, smoke ventilation, audio alarms...) to continue functioning for a certain time after the fire has started.
Go beyond cables
Nexans Fire Safety products are compatible with our full range of solutions & services.
“ We, Fire Safety expert, support you in making your business safer and less risk averse with best-in-class fire protection. ”
We support all your projects
The building of the future is electric – meaning more cables, more connectors, more systems and subsystems – but also smarter, safer, with a low carbon footprint.
With Nexans Fire Safety, we bring you a full range of cable that will ensure a safer and more sustainable energy, at all stages of the electrification chain, and no matter the type of construction works.
From residential to commercial and industrial buildings, but also to all high safety buildings (hospitals, schools, hotel), infrastructures (tunneling, rail, airports terminals), new energy (Solar PV), and data centers, you can rely on Nexans to support you against fire risks.
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