Green Flame (GF) is a program that includes Fire Safety, Health and Environmental aspects in a single evaluation of any given product. Environmental requirements have been included in product procurement for some time. Fire performance requirements have, however, typically not been included in such systems. In some cases the environmental focus, however, has potentially had an effect on the fire performance or vice versa attention to the fire performance has potentially had an effect on the environmental impact of the product. The Green Flame™ (GF) system has been put forward in an attempt to address fire safety and its health and environmental aspects, i.e., to ensure maximum fire performance with a minimum of negative impact on the environment and human health. It has been developed to promote environmentally sound fire safety.
Fire code enforcement and environmental officials from the United States with Swedish environmental and safety authorities are proposing a program to encourage manufacturers to develop, use and sell products capable of meeting high standards of fire safety with minimum negative impact on the environmental and human health.
The partnership includes:
- The National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM) which represents the most senior fire code enforcement officials in each of the 50 states and District of Columbia, in the US. In the US, almost all fire code enforcement is conducted at the state and local levels. NASFM is receiving scientific guidance from the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA).
- The Swedish Rescue Services Agency (SRV) which is receiving scientific guidance from the Swedish National Chemicals Inspectorate (KemI) and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SNV).
The partnership grew from a shared interest in reconciling the risk from fires and the potential environmental and health impacts of fire retardant chemicals. The fire retardant chemicals in question are found in many products throughout society ¾ in aircraft, autos, trains and boats, home electrical appliances, computers, televisions and a range of home furnishings. Scientists have raised concerns about the environmental and health effects of these chemicals, and formal risk assessments of five brominated fire retardant chemicals are now under way by European authorities. Other fire retardant chemicals are also being scrutinized by government agencies in Sweden and the US.
The challenge accepted by the partnership is to move away from flame retardant chemicals posing unacceptable harm to the environment while maintaining a high level of fire protection through safe alternative chemicals and/or techniques. More details of the scope, goals, organisation and assessment can be found in the Green Flame General Document.
Green Flame evaluation
The Green Flame evaluation scheme is determined by the Green Flame Advisory board. The Green Flame Advisory Board selects the markets and products to be considered for a Green Flame award and decides whether a product fulfils the relevant requirements. The members of the Advisory Board are national agencies, a secretariat and a liaison to the Board of the International Consortium on Fire Safety, Health and Environment. Presently (2005-01-28) the members of the Advisory Board are: The Swedish Rescue Services Agency (SRV), with scientific guidance from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and The Swedish Chemicals Inspectorate; and the National Association of State Fire Marshals and United States Environmental Protection Agency. SP Swedish Testing and Research Institute acts as the Secretariat and Peter Sparber as the consortium liason.
The minimum requirement for any product evaluated within GF system is that they meet the highest available prevailing standards, worldwide, so that the same product can enter any market. The product looking for Green Flame recognition should then exceed at least one of these standards in some respect. The product could, for instance, exhibit much better fire performance than the established benchmark. More details about the requirements can be found in general document.
The products awarded with a Green Flame will be posted on the website and a non-confidential product or technology performance information package will be readily downloadable for public procurement agencies and environmental, safety and health regulators for inclusion in their guidelines. Similarly, this package will be made available to applicants for private distribution.
Incentives
The reasons for a company to seek a Green Flame award are many:
- The GF award ensures that claims by industry that they have a safe product have been validated by an independent organization including national fire safety and environmental agencies.
- GF provides the opportunity to have environmental, fire safety and health aspects evaluated simultaneously.
- A single product for all markets substantially reduces a manufacturer’s cost of design, materials, production and distribution.
With Green Flame, people and or procurement agencies do not have to choose between fire safety, health and the environment.
Green Flame recognises the toughest rather than the weakest standards which promotes harmonization in a safer way.
More advantages with Green flame can be found in our folder Green Flame Incentives.
More information
More information about the Green Flame is available from the information package. Please contact the secretariat for the full package.
Contact
The Green Flame™ Secretariat is run by SP Fire Technology. For more information about this program please contact Margaret Simonson, tel. +46 (0)10 5165219, or Petra Andersson tel. +46 (0)10 5165621, fax. +46 (0)33 417759.