Avoid Uninsured Losses - 3 Ways To Check If Your Scaffold Shrink Wrap is LPS1215 Compliant

In this short guide I will show you 3 quick and easy ways to check if the scaffold shrink wrap you are purchasing is compliant with the LPS1215 certification scheme.

Although not required by everyone, if you work in high risk environments such as shipyards or offshore this is what you need to do to ensure the correct materials are used.

Why should you use LPS1215 sheeting for your projects?

Whether you are buying shrink wrap materials to install yourself, or sub contracting the work to a shrink wrap installation company it is important that you are aware of the flame retardant standards. Simply put, you should use LPS certified scaffold sheeting in order to cover your back when there is a risk of a fire.

Only using LPS certified materials helps to cover a company for loss and damages incurred in the event of a fire because only LPS is backed by the insurance industry in the UK. Use of a product which is not certified to LPS 1215 or LPS1207 may result in the company suffering uninsured losses.

What is the difference between LPS1215 and EN13501?

The other most common flame retardant standard used by shrink wrap companies is the European standard EN13501. The main difference between LPS and EN13501 is that to achieve the LPS1215 standard requires an independent audit of the shrink wrap manufacturing facilities every year by the LPCB.

During the audit, samples of scaffold shrink wrap film from three production runs that have taken place over the previous 12 months is taken and tested to ensure it reaches the flame retardancy standards laid down by the LPCB.

This means that no ‘deception’ is possible as the product formulation that is being manufactured now has to be the same as that which was originally sent to the laboratories to obtain the initial flame retardant certification.

So, using an LPS certified film significantly reduce risk and demonstrates due diligence.

On the other hand, the EN13501 test is a one off test, a ‘snapshot’ if you like, of a shrink wrap’s flame retardant at a point in time. There are no checks or audits to check that the formulation of the film is not changing over time (such as less flame retardant additive being included.)

Checking if your sheeting is LPS compliant – Step 1 – Check Online

All approved products can be checked free of charge at www.redbooklive.com. Simply type your shrink wrap manufacturers name into the search box click on ‘search our listings’.

On the next page you you can then choose to search by a number of different criteria including search by company name or certificate number. I have included a screen shot below.

Checking if your sheeting is compliant with LPS1215 – Step 2 – Ask your supplier for certificates

The second step to ensuring that the shrink wrap sheeting is compliant with LPS1215 is to ask your supplier for the LPS Certificates and check that the certificate number matches the certificate numbers online (see step 1). Click on the certificate thumbnail to see a full scale PDF version of a certificate.

Checking if your sheeting is compliant wit LPS1215 – Step 3 – Check what is printed on the scaffold shrink wrap film

Check the markings on the wrap, you will have to excuse me as earlier I stated that LPS should be printed on the wrap, please find attached picture which has a LCPB stamp with the certificate number.

In the picture below, the certificate number is 789b and it is clearly displayed below the LPCB logo / stamp.

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If you need any help or advice with any aspect of using shrink wrap sheeting for temporary weather protection or environmental containment get in touch with myself and my team; info@rhinoshrinkwrap.com or +44 (0)1477 532222.