Circular Letter MSC/Circ.1004
INTERPRETATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CODE FOR THE APPLICATION OF FIRE TEST
PROCEDURES (FTP CODE) AND FIRE TEST PROCEDURES REFERRED TO IN THE CODE
(adopted
on 4 June 2001)
1.
The Maritime Safety Committee, at its seventy-fourth session (30 May to 8 June
2001), with a view to ensuring uniform application of the fire test provisions
of the FTP Code containing vague wording which is open to diverging
interpretations, approved unified interpretations prepared by the Sub-Committee
on Fire Protection at its forty-fifth session, as set out in the Annex.
2.
Member Governments are invited to use the annexed interpretations as guidance,
when applying relevant provisions of the FTP Code for the testing of new
materials, tested on or after 10 June 2001, in order to fulfill the
requirements of the 1974 SOLAS Convention, and to bring the interpretations to
the attention of all parties concerned.
3.
Member Governments are also advised to take into account earlier
interpretations approved by MSC/Circ.916 and MSC/Circ.964.
ANNEX.
INTERPRETATIONS TO THE FTP CODE AND FIRE TEST PROCEDURES REFERRED TO IN THE
CODE
INTERNATIONAL CODE FOR APPLICATION OF FIRE
TEST PROCEDURES
For
cases where an unsuccessful test had been conducted prior to the final approval
test, the fire test report should include a description of the modifications
made to the test specimen that resulted in the successful test.
Part 5 - Test for surface flammability
Where
a product is approved based on a test of a specimen applied on a
non-combustible substrate, that product should be approved for application to
any non-combustible substrate with similar or higher density (similar density
may be defined as a density ³
0.75 the density used during testing) or with a greater thickness if the
density is more than 400 kg/m3. Where a product is approved on the
basis of a test result obtained after application on a metallic substrate (e.g.
thin film of paints or plastic films on steel plates), such a product should be
approved for application to any metallic base of similar or higher thickness
(similar thickness is obtained as a thickness ³ 0.75 the thickness of metallic substrate
used during testing).
Part 6 - Test for primary deck coverings
Paragraph
2.2 - Fire test procedure
The
test may be terminated after 40 min.
Where
a product is approved based on a test of a specimen applied on a
non-combustible substrate, that product should be approved for application to
any non-combustible substrate with similar or higher density (similar density
may be defined as a density ³
0.75 the density used during testing) or with a greater thickness if the
density is more than 400 kg/m3. Where a product is approved on the
basis of test result obtained after application on a metallic substrate (e.g.
thin film of paints or plastic films on steel plates), such a product should be
approved for application to any metallic base of similar or higher thickness
(similar thickness is obtained as a thickness ³ 0.75 the thickness of metallic substrate
used during testing).
In
the first line of the first sentence, the word "or" should read