What must a safety cabinet be able to do? Basics – Laws, Regulations & EN 14470-1

One company that is leading the way with innovative solutions for the storage and handling of hazardous materials is asecos, based in Germany. Since 1994, the company has been setting new standards of safety at the workplace by developing storage cabinets for hazardous materials, which can withstand ninety minutes of intense fire and heat. This innovative and groundbreaking safety concept, known as Type 90, is now the official regulation for the storage of hazardous materials within the EU.

Laws and Regulations – EN 14470-1

In April 2004, the European norm EN 14470-1 for safety cabinets was published as a binding version. This European milestone made lives safer by ensuring safer safety cabinets.

The EN specifies the performance required of the design and fire resistance of safety cabinets. The structural requirements and the testing conditions have been modified. The procedures and the interpretation of the test are now described in detail.

• A fire chamber test is required for each new model of cabinet.
• All design variations must have undergone separate tests in the fire chamber to ensure that every individual type of cabinet meets the EN 14470-1 standard.

EN 14470-1 now classifies fire resistance into 4 categories: Type 15, 30, 60 and 90, the figures denoting the time elapsed in minutes before the temperature rises by more than 180°C.

EU-countries have to choose their own safety standards

Each EU member now has to choose its standard of fire resistance for safety cabinets in accordance with the new EN 14470-1. The governments have to define how much time they estimate personnel and fire fighters will need in order to save themselves and evacuate personnel, i.e. is a fire resistance of 15 or 30 minutes sufficient for the fire fighters to arrive?

As an example, in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland, according to EN 14470-1, a 90 minutes fire resistance has been confirmed as a technical standard. (TRbF 20 Annex L).

What must a safety cabinet be able to do?

The primary protection which a safety cabinet is intended to provide is to shield stored, hazardous materials from a temperature rise of up to 180°C in the event of fire for a defined period of time.

What happens if 180°C is exceeded?

Combustion may begin if the temperature inside the safety cabinet exceeds 180°C. From this value up, the majority of chemicals reach their ignition temperature: they explode.

Fire is the same in all parts of the world

Whether in London or Lisbon, a fire has the same properties and temperatures. After only 5 minutes, a fire has reached a temperature of 576°C, after 30 minutes, 842°C, and after 90 minutes, the flames are more than 1000°C.

A comparison of fire resistance for cabinets of different construction

How long do hazardous materials in a cabinet remain safe?

A double wall steel cabinet provides no more than three minutes of protection before the interior has heated to 180°C. A Type 30 EN Safety Cabinet as supplied by asecos provides 30 minutes of protection before the interior has heated to 180°C. 10-times more safety in the event of fire compared with a double wall steel cabinet.

Highest safety is reached with a Type 90 asecos safety cabinet with special fire resistant plates. Type 90 cabinets allow personnel more than 90 minutes before the hazardous materials reach their ignition temperature – enough time for rescue and fire-fighting action to be taken.

Quality can save lives

• 90 minutes of fire resistance means optimum quality, and therefore the highest possible safety for people and environment.
• Cabinets meeting EN 14470-1 give your investment maximum security.
• Maximum safety through fire chamber test for each model of cabinet.