SwRI earns U.S. Coast Guard acceptance to conduct IMO fire testing and provide production control services

Prior to July 1998, individual countries could designate their own standards. Ship manufacturers were required to ensure that their materials and assemblies would comply with the standards of the country in which the ship was registered. IMO establishes one set of international standards for all countries to follow. SwRI is one of two laboratories in the United States that is approved by the USCG to perform the IMO tests and to provide product control services. The latter require follow-up audits of the manufacturing facilities to ensure that the product that reaches the consumer is comparable to that which was evaluated and tested.

"Because these evaluations are critical to ensuring a ship's safety, the USCG must make sure that laboratories they have approved have a good quality control system," Gladys Finley, manager of the Listing, Labeling and Follow-up Inspection Services section in SwRI's Fire Technology Department, said. "The basis of the FTP code is to ensure the safety of people aboard the ships; because of this, the USCG is very concerned and strict as to who they approve to perform this work."

The IMO requires that the material being installed on a ship be the same or comparable to the material that was tested. SwRI notes how a product is made, initials the prototype, ships it to the testing laboratory, and then writes a quality control manual to specify how that product should continue to be manufactured. The Institute then makes periodic unannounced visits to the manufacturing facilities to ensure that the product is being made according to approved procedures.

The Institute tests a variety of materials and assemblies that are used on ships, such as windows, bulkheads, doors, floors, ceilings, and pipes.