Tuesday, 21 February 2017

First Kitemark scheme for Balustrades helps to raise the safety standard

Phoenix Balustrading


BSI, the business standards company has launched a new Kitemark for Balustrades. The first organizations to achieve the BSI Kitemark™ for Protective Barrier Systems (Balustrades) are Delta Balustrades, Phoenix Balustrading Ltd part of Cooke Brothers and Q-Railing. 

Launched in December 2016, the scheme has been developed for manufacturers and importers of temporary and permanent balustrades to demonstrate that their products meet the appropriate British, European or international standard for quality, safety, performance and trust. This is the first scheme in the UK dedicated to ensuring balustrades are manufactured to the highest possible standard.

Protective barrier systems, widely referred to as balustrades, are increasingly being used in and around modern buildings. Whilst they can have a huge visual impact, any new balustrade system must be designed to ensure that it is safe for use and that any potential installation errors are minimised. An unsafe balustrade system can be costly to organizations and potentially life threatening to the public.

The BSI Kitemark for Balustrades provides reassurance that products have been manufactured to a consistently high standard. It also provides an incentive for installers of barriers to purchase complete systems from Kitemark suppliers, rather than a ‘mix and match’ assembly of unproven components.

Andy Butterfield, Product Certification Director of Built Environment at BSI said:
“With the increasing use of balustrades in the market place, it’s vital that these products are tested to ensure compliance and provide assurance to manufacturers, architects, and specifiers of new builds and refurbishments that products are manufactured to a high standard.
“We’re really delighted to have been able to present Delta Balustrades, Phoenix Balustrading and Q-Railing with the first Kitemarks. This will help them to differentiate themselves from other organizations with non-assured products. The BSI Kitemark is recognised as a symbol of trust and we have a strong track record in promoting excellence when it comes to the safety and performance of products.”
In order to achieve certification, organizations are required to be independently assessed whereby they will have to demonstrate that they adhere to the requirements of BS 6180:2011 Barriers in and about buildings Code of practice. Products also have to be manufactured within a ISO 9001: 2015 Quality Management Systems controlled factory environment.

BSI has engaged the services of Lucideon, an international provider of testing to the construction industry to complete part of the international product assessment. The collaboration will enable both parties to share their extensive expertise in assurance and testing respectively and is part of a broader partnership which will see both parties develop Product Testing and Certification solutions for the construction industry.

Steve Newman, Product Manager, Lucideon, said: 
“We are very pleased to see the first certifications being awarded to manufacturers who have worked with Lucideon for their testing requirements. Delta Balustrades, Phoenix Balustrading and Q-Railing can now prove that they have developed market leading products, and taken the time and care to have them certified. This will no doubt help them stand out as manufacturers of balustrades with real quality and high levels of safety. Our collaboration with BSI means that between us, we can offer the most efficient route to certification.”

Stephen Boyt, Founder of Delta Balustrades said: 
“We’re committed to ensuring that our customer’s balustrades are safe and fully compliant with regulations. By achieving the BSI Kitemark for Balustrades, we’re able to give our customers the assurance that our products meet the highest safety and quality standards during the design, manufacture and installation.”

Bruce Bradshaw, General Manager at Q-Railing said: 
“A balustrade needs to do much more than look good – it also needs to provide the utmost safety. We pride ourselves on the quality and safety of our products and services and achieving the BSI Kitemark demonstrates our commitment to this.”

Chris Pote, Quality Assurance Manager at Phoenix Balustrading said: 
“Phoenix Balustrading is committed to quality assurance for our customers. Gaining the BSI Kitemark is part of our ongoing and continual commitment to providing our customers with products that satisfy all their requirements.”

For more details, please visit www.bsigroup.com


Scroll down to read more articles like this which have been published recently

Why not Sign-up to Receive these Articles by Email each Day

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner


* Read more current and archived articles on our dedicated website *

Low Cost and Free Publicity - Your company can easily benefit from some publicity like this in return for a contribution towards our layout costs (£35 to £55 plus VAT), payable via PayPal or credit card  or receive the service absolutely free of charge if you advertise (see below).

We post articles up to twice a day and never delete them - we only archive them each year so that they continue to remain visible to search engines.

To have your story published - just send us your news item, logo and image(s) and we will review the material, make any necessary changes to the wording / wordcount and then advise you when it will be published.

If you take display advertising or product and literature features in our printed and online publications, you will qualify for regular free postings on this blog while you continue to advertise with us.

For details on features and advertising rates please contact us or visit our website.

Door Industry Journal is a trading style of Avalon Innovations LLP Company Registration No. 06807833

No comments:

Post a Comment