BS EN 15659:2019

What is BS EN 15659 - Light fire storage units about? 

BS EN 15659 is the European standard on secure storage units. It specifies requirements for light fire storage units that ensures of optimal protection against fire. 

The method of test in BS EN 15659 is specified to determine the ability of light fire storage units to protect paper media from the effects of fire. Two levels of fire exposure periods (LFS 30 P and LFS 60 P) are specified using the maximum temperature increase permitted within the storage space of the light fire storage unit. 

Note: Protection after the fire exposure of 30 min (LFS 30) or 60 min (LFS 60) is not ensured by BS EN 15659. 

Who is BS EN 15659 - Light fire storage units for? 

BS EN 15659 on light fire storage units is relevant to: 

• Manufacturers of secure storage units 
• Manufacturers of light fire storage units 
• Entities involved in fire safety engineering 
• Product designers and specifiers 
• Software-Defined Data Centres (SDDC) 
• Fire testing laboratories 
• Quality and safety testing agencies 

Why should you use BS EN 15659 - Light fire storage units? 

Light fire storage units are units designed to protect paper media, except for paper grades where data loss occurs at temperatures below 170°C, as well as valuables against the effects of temperatures up to 170°C. 

BS EN 15659 covers a scheme to classify the light fire storage units from the test results as well as best industry recommendations on the design range. 

BS EN 15659 provides a basis for simulating fires to determine in a reproducible way, the fire resistance of light fire storage units at various protection levels. The protection levels enable a comparison to be made of the resistance against fire provided by different constructions. 

By complying with BS EN 15659, you can enable manufacturing of safe and reliable light fire storage units that play a crucial role in fire emergency situations by minimizing risk of damage to equipment, data, personnel and property.  

What’s changed since the last update? 

BS EN 15659:2019 supersedes EN 15659:2009. Compared with EN 15659:2009, the following changes were made: 

• The protection levels were renamed from LFS 30 P and LFS 60 P to LFS 30 and LFS 60 that customers know the difference between this fire resistance standard and the fire resistance 
• Standard EN 1047-1, the scope of the standard was adapted 
• As the standard could lead to different interpretations in different test houses regarding the choice of test specimens a new Clause 5 and in Annex A have been added as well as Clause 6.1 has been adapted 
• Due to testing knowledge gained since the publication of the standard EN 15659 in 2009 it could be seen that the depth is not as critical as the width of a specimen. Therefore, the tolerance on the depth was changed from ± 15 % to ± 20 % 
• The fire exposure time now starts from the beginning of the test (7.4.2)