The Ministerial Decree of December 20, 2012 (“Technical fire prevention regulation for active fire protection systems installed in activities subject to fire prevention controls”) introduces important innovations for fire detection systems. Let us analyze the main points in detail.
1- Purpose: the technical regulation refers to the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of active fire protection systems installed in activities subject to fire prevention controls; among these systems are fire detection and manual alarm systems.
2- Scope of application: the technical regulation applies to newly built systems and to those already existing on the date the decree came into force (April 4, 2013) that are subject to substantial modification, i.e. a typological transformation (nature of the system) or an extension exceeding 50% (for detection systems, in terms of the number of detectors or manual call points).
3- Products used: article 3 specifies that the products referred to in the technical regulation are those regulated by European Community provisions (that is, by the relevant harmonized standards), although it is also possible to use products not compliant with such standards but manufactured in a Member State of the European Union, in Turkey, or in a State that is a signatory to the EFTA agreement, provided that they guarantee an equivalent level of fire protection to that prescribed by the Decree.
4- System design: the Decree establishes that the design of the systems must be prepared by a qualified technician, except for systems designed according to internationally recognized fire protection standards, which must be designed by a fire protection professional.
This represents a significant innovation for fire detection systems, which may now be designed according to standards such as NFPA 70 and NFPA 72 as an alternative to the national standard UNI 9795 (with the limitations described above).
Chapter 6 of the technical regulation specifies that the application of recognized international standards can also be extended to the installation, operation, and maintenance activities of fire detection systems, provided that the products used comply with European Community regulations.
This means that a system designed according to NFPA 72 must use CE-marked products (and not, for example, UL listed or FM approved components). The same chapter also specifies that the adoption of international standards requires their full application, thus excluding partial or hybrid uses of such standards.
5- Documentation aspects: by introducing a dual approach to system design, the Decree clarifies the documentation to be submitted during both the project evaluation phase and the fire prevention control phase, as outlined in Annex I and Chapter 3 of Annex II of the Decree of August 7, 2012.
Specifically, during the project evaluation phase, it will be necessary to include the system specification (already required by the Decree of August 7, 2012), with the additional signature of a fire protection professional only in cases of systems designed according to international standards.
During the fire prevention control phase, the declaration of conformity provided for by the Interministerial Decree No. 37 of January 22, 2008, must be supplemented, for systems built in accordance with international standards, by a specific certification of compliance and proper system operation, signed by a fire protection professional.
The design contents of fire detection systems are, in any case, those already prescribed by their respective technical standards, which are fully comprehensive and should be referred to.