IFE and FIA ask industry to share unpublished BS 8414 test reports

BS 8414 test data publication request

The Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) and the Fire Industry Association (FIA) have called on the fire safety community to help make unpublished BS 8414 fire test data publicly accessible.

The organisations stated that a number of BS 8414 fire tests have been carried out on external wall construction systems, with results remaining outside the public domain.

Many of these tests were commissioned in response to issues identified in real buildings.

These included cases involving missing or poorly installed cavity barriers.

The purpose of the testing was to assess whether such shortcomings present a risk of external fire spread.

Access to this wider body of test data would provide fire engineers with additional evidence when assessing similar construction features or defects.

This would support more informed, evidence-based decision-making across projects involving external wall systems.

Test outcomes would be relevant regardless of whether the system achieved a successful result.

Unpublished reports are currently known only to a limited number of individuals, which limits their use in broader engineering assessments.

How the reports could be shared

The IFE and FIA said they would be willing to provide a platform for publishing test reports, most likely through a publicly accessible website, subject to permission from the organisations that commissioned them.

Reports could be anonymised to remove references to specific buildings or organisations.

The primary purpose would be to improve understanding of how different wall constructions perform in fire conditions.

Anyone aware of relevant BS 8414 fire test reports suitable for publication has been invited to contact the organisations.

All contacts will be treated in confidence, and no report will be published without explicit consent from the commissioning organisation.

Enquiries can be sent to [email protected].