Hello all, Recently my attention was drawn to an open letter from the National Association of Fire Marshals, detailing their concerns with 94-HB enclosures, which - according to tests they initiated - can be readily ignited by external sources.
A quote from their letter: "In November and December of 1999, SP (the Swedish National Research and Testing Institute) tested five computer monitors - all of which had been or are available to consumers. Three of the five were made with fire-resistant plastic housings. Repeated attempts to ignite these monitors failed. Two of the five monitors were made with HB rated plastic housings. A SINGLE MATCH IGNITED EACH OF THESE QUICKLY." [The emphasis in the last sentence is mine] The NAFM letter can be viewed at: <www.firemarshals.org/openletter.html> My interests were piqued and the subject-matter served as the basis for an article in the current issue of Int'l Product Safety News. To further this discussion, I ask you to read the open letter and then ask yourself; A) What is your company's business practice ? Do they, 1: Just meet the requirements (per a given standard) ? or, 2: Strive to provide equipment that is "safe" beyond the requirements of the standards ? B) Should ITE (and other) product safety standards be concerned with external sources of ignition. C) Do you agree that ITE should be singled out for scrutiny, given that children's bedrooms (the impetus behind this open-letter), and in fact, whole households, are replete with easily ignited materials. Regards, Art Michael Int'l Product Safety News A.E. Michael, Editor 166 Congdon St. East P.O. Box 1561 Middletown CT 06457 U.S.A. Phone : (860) 344-1651 Fax : (860) 346-9066 Email : [email protected] Website: http://www.safetylink.com ISSN : 1040-7529 --------- This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to [email protected] with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the quotes). For help, send mail to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected] (the list administrators).
