How Does a Product Get a British Standard Kitemark?

Why Should I use British Standard Kitemarked Products?

As we discussed in our previous blog post, the award of a British Standard (often with a displayed ‘kitemark’) is designed to provide consumers with peace of mind. It proves that they’re using a product that’s tested and certified to be safe and able to do what it’s supposed to correctly.

How Do Companies Get a British Standard Kitemark?

Companies pay to have their products tested against the specified standards. The British Standard Kitemark is awarded at the successful completion of the tests. It assures users that the product meets consistently high quality and safety standards.

How is a British Standard Kitemark Different to a ‘CE’ Mark?

Conformite European is a standard that demonstrates a product meets the minimum quality to be sold within the EU. The award of a British Standard guarantees a higher quality level than the CE mark.

About British Standards Tests

British Standards quality checks are completed in various stages. Each stage checks a different aspect of the product and each must pass the relevant tests to be awarded the standard.

A Simple Example:

1. Sizing Quality Checks: Checks made before, during and after manufacture to check that the specified measurements are correct.
2. Quality Assurance: Checking all products are of a consistently high standard throughout manufacture. For example, using templates and jigs and copying a CAD design to ensure each product is identical.
3. Tolerance: When large quantities of a product are made, it’s not always practical to test and guarantee that every product is absolutely identical. Tolerances are the acceptable range of differences from the agreed standards in things like size, weight and performance.

What Kind of Quality Checks Carried Out?

The manner of testing depends very much on the product being tested. All products are checked visually. All products are also physically checked to ensure they have sufficiently robust construction.

Any item that needs to bear weight is tested to bear much more than the specified weight and many items are ‘tested to destruction’ to determine the absolute limits to their usage.

As fire curtains, smoke curtains and fire shutters are safety products, designed to save lives and prevent damage to property, they are subjected to extremely stringent tests. As well as the usual quality checks, they are also physically tested by qualified professionals in environments containing both smoke and fire.

Take a look at our range of fire curtains, smoke curtains and fire shutters.

If you’d like to find out more about our products’ tests and accreditations, please talk to our friendly team. We’re always happy to discuss safety with our customers and explain exactly how we make sure our products are of the highest possible standards.