Have you noticed that almost all Strong Man Safety Products are fire-retardant? It’s no coincidence. Strong Man products meet two key fire-safety standards that make our products hot—but never literally.
Ardent about being fire-retardant. Though there are no official federal regulations regarding flame-retardancy of drapery fabrics used in public spaces, there is a standard set by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) titled NFPA 701: Standard Methods of Fire Tests for flame propagation of textiles and films.
- To meet this standard, a flame source is put to the material. When the flame is removed, the material must extinguish in two seconds or less and the char-length can be no more than 1050 millimeters. In addition, if any material drips or falls after the flame is removed, this must also self-extinguish in two seconds or less.
- There is a voluntary second part of the test. In this part, the material is subjected to accelerated water leaching for 72 hours and must again self-extinguish in two seconds or less, including drips or falling material. As you may have guessed, Strong Man requires our material to meet this stricter safety standard.
Wicked fire-retardant. Strong Man doesn’t skimp on safety, which is why we also meet the Boston Fire Department IX-1 Classification Standard. This standard uses a slightly different test method than NFPA 701, but it’s no less useful or important.
- In this test, six samples of material are tested, three by width and three by length. Each sample is suspended into a flame at a 45-degree angle. The lower 1.5″ of the specimen is held into the 6-inch-long flame for 10 seconds.
- The material passes the test if these four criteria are met:
- The after-flame lasts no longer than 2 seconds maximum.
- The flame-propagation distance must be a maximum of 6”.
- The propagation afterglow lasts no longer than 40 seconds maximum.
- The non-propagating afterglow lasts no longer than 80 seconds maximum.
Strong Man strives to offer the highest quality safety equipment possible. We’re proud to say that all fire-retardant Strong Man products have gone through the fire safety tests described above and met, or exceeded, all criteria. Bottom line: our safety products can take the heat!