Fire safety requirements for Reduced Ignition Propensity (RIP) cigarettes are now covered by a new European Standard, EN16156 'Cigarettes - Assessment of the ignition propensity'.

The European Standard complements a first standard published by CEN and ISO in September this year, ISO12863 'Standard test method for assessing the ignition propensity for cigarettes'. Both standards were developed to respond to the European Commission standardisation mandate, M/425, relative to the fire safety requirements for cigarettes.

The aim of developing standards for self-extinguishing cigarettes was to find a technical solution to prevent cigarettes from burning through their whole length when not actively smoked as they remain a source of heat and therefore still represent a fire hazard.  

M/425 provided the mandate to develop standards that take into consideration two different aspects: the fire safety requirement (dealt by EN16156), and to define a suitable test method to determine whether the requirement is fulfilled by the specimens tested (handled by ISO12863).

Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser Sir Ken Knight told FIRE: "I am delighted that we have reached such a positive position, not least due to the professional and diligent way that policy colleagues in FRD have pursued the goal of the reduction of accidental fire deaths."

 

Posted December 15th.