Fire Stopping — Why Third-Party Accreditation Matters
Anyone can buy intumescent sealant and a tube of fire-rated foam. Few people are competent to install it as a defensible system. The difference is third-party accreditation — and it matters more than ever post-Grenfell.
What fire-stopping is
Fire-stopping is the sealing of penetrations through fire-resisting walls and floors to restore the fire compartment. Penetrations include:
- Cables (single and bundled)
- Pipes (metallic and plastic)
- HVAC ducts
- Combination service voids
- Joints between building elements
A fire wall is only as good as its weakest penetration. A single uncomptaminated 50mm hole through a 60-minute wall reduces its effective resistance to seconds.
The product/installer relationship
A fire-stopping installation has two parts:
1. A certified product — tested to BS EN 1366 or BS 476 to a specific fire resistance 2. A certified installer — who has been trained on that product and works to the manufacturer's tested system
These are tied together. A certified product installed incorrectly is not compliant. A certified installer using an uncertified product is not compliant. Both must align.
Third-party installer accreditations
The recognised third-party installer schemes in the UK:
- FIRAS — Fire-stopping installer competence scheme (ASFP / Warrington)
- IFC Certified — Installer scheme covering passive fire protection
- LPCB LPS 1531 — Certified installer for fire-stopping
- BM TRADA Q-Mark — Door and passive fire protection installation
Look for the badge AND the installer's individual record card identifying which products they are trained on.
What the Building Safety Act demands
Under the Building Safety Act 2022 Golden Thread, evidence of competent fire-stopping in an HRB must include:
- The product specification used
- The certificate of the system the installer worked to
- Installer's record card
- Photographic evidence of every penetration
- Marked-up drawings showing fire compartment lines
Smeared sealant around a cable bundle with no record card is not evidence. It is the absence of evidence.
The "we did it ourselves" problem
A common scenario: an in-house facilities team installs IT cabling and "fire-stops" the penetrations themselves with a tube of off-the-shelf sealant. This:
- Voids the original fire compartment certification
- Has no certified installer record
- Cannot be evidenced in the Golden Thread
- Will be flagged by any competent Type 2 / Type 4 compartmentation survey
The right protocol: any work passing through a fire compartment must be reinstated by a third-party accredited installer using a certified system.
Common defects we find
- Foam sealant in cable bundles instead of intumescent
- Penetration sealed but cavity in wall not addressed
- Single-product seal where a multi-product system was specified
- Different penetrations through same wall using different uncoordinated systems
- No record card or product traceability
How to procure properly
When procuring fire-stopping works:
1. Specify the third-party installer scheme required 2. Require the installer's certified product list pre-contract 3. Require photographic evidence of every penetration 4. Require record cards filed by penetration ID 5. Require warranty linked to the system, not just the labour
MetroFire's compartmentation team holds FIRAS certification and works to certified systems from Nullifire, Hilti, Promat and Sika. Book a remediation.
