IFSA Product Certification Video Now Available in 6 Languages

The IFSA’s video explaining the need for fire protection industry professionals and regulators to demand product certification by reputable testing laboratories is now available in 6 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Turkish and Arabic. You can view the video by clicking here.

The 6-minute video focuses on the shortcomings of noncertified fire sprinklers that have been identified, some actually removed from service where they were being trusted to provide fire protection to the public. When such noncertified fire sprinklers are tested using standard product test protocols, they routinely fail to demonstrate adequate performance. Certain types of failure seem to predominate, but all failures indicate a danger to public safety. For more information regarding the noncertified fire sprinklers and their performance under standard testing protocols, please see the referenced reports:

It is hoped that the video will be successful in bringing the dangers of noncertified fire sprinklers to the attention of government regulators, and convince them to prevent the installation of the substandard products in their countries.

The emergence of COVID-19, declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, has resulted in the postponement or cancellation of virtually all industry events over the next few months as countries struggle to contain its spread. The list of cancellations and postponements includes:

17-18 March ABSpk conference in Sao Paulo – postponed indefinitely

29-30 April NFSA annual conference in Phoenix, Arizona – cancelled

6-7 May EFSN international conference (FSI 2020) in Amsterdam– rescheduled for 19-20 October

Many other meetings and smaller events have likewise been cancelled. As of this writing, the NFPA conference and expo is still scheduled to take place in Orlando, Florida on June 15-18, 2020.

One of the more interesting aspects of the response to the coronavirus has been the use of fire protection analogies by some news commentators. They have compared efforts by governments to encourage social distancing to removing fuel from a fire, or at least distributing the fuel more sparsely so as to rob a fire of its potential for growth. Much of the public recognizes that a single wood log will not readily burn, but requires radiation feedback from its neighbors. As a fire protection measure, this stands in contrast to preventing ignition, which would be possible only if a vaccine were available, or a known cure. The cure in this case would be analogous to a fire suppression system, something that could be administered even to those who have contracted the virus, but would stop it in its tracks.

Let’s all hope that better prevention and protection measures are soon on their way.

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IFSA Product Certification Video Now Available in 6 Languages

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