UL 72 Standard for Fire Resistance Testing of Record Preservation Equipment

The standard “UL 72 Standard for Fire Resistance Testing of Record Protection Equipment” developed by Underwriter Laboratories (UL) describes test procedures applicable to the fire resistance classification of record protection equipment designed to provide protection to one or more types of records when exposed to various durations of fire exposure.

Records preservation equipment consists of self-contained, portable devices having a variety of configurations, such as insulated housings containing insulated doors or drawers or covers, unrated multi-drawer devices housing individually rated drawer housings, and other similar structures.

Tests conducted in accordance with these requirements are intended to demonstrate the performance of the recording protection equipment during fire exposure, but are not intended to determine acceptability for use after fire exposure.

Under these requirements, recording protection equipment shall be subjected to a fire resistance test and an explosion test. Equipment designed to provide impact resistance shall also be subjected to a fire and impact test. The fire resistance test shall demonstrate the ability of the device to prevent the occurrence of temperature and relative humidity (Classes 125 and 150 only) exceeding the specified limits within the device for the required classification. The explosion test shall demonstrate the ability of the device to withstand sudden exposure to high temperatures and to prevent the device from exploding due to the accumulation of vapor or other gases. The fire and impact test shall demonstrate the ability of the device to protect the contents from heat to the extent specified in the requirements, before and after an impact caused by a drop from a height of 9,1 m.

Fire exposures are controlled to achieve specified temperatures over a specified period of time. These fire test exposures by themselves may not be representative of all fire conditions. Conditions may vary with changes in the amount, nature and distribution of fire loads, the size and fire-resistant or non-fire-resistant construction of the building, and the location of the appliance within the building.

The internal sample temperature and relative humidity limitations applied to the three classes of devices reflect the type of records to be stored in the device. Class 350-rated devices are designed to preserve paper records. Class 150-rated devices are designed to preserve paper and nonpaper records, such as EDP media (magnetic tapes) and photographic records. Class 125-rated devices are also designed to preserve flexible computer disks. However, nonpaper records are not used as content for the tests described in these requirements because testing to determine the ability of all available nonpaper records to withstand these conditions is not within the scope of these requirements.

Record preservation equipment may include locking devices, but theft resistance of these mechanisms is beyond the scope of these requirements.

A product that contains new or different features, characteristics, components, materials or systems than those covered by the requirements of this standard and that poses a risk of fire or electric shock or injury to persons shall be evaluated using appropriate additional component and end-product requirements to maintain the level of safety originally anticipated by the intent of this standard. A product whose features, characteristics, components, materials or systems conflict with specific requirements or provisions of this standard does not conform to this standard. Revisions to the requirements shall be proposed and adopted in accordance with the methods used for the development, revision and implementation of this standard.

Understanding the details behind the UL-72 fire-resistant safe testing standard certification is an important step in obtaining the appropriate fire-resistant safe that will help protect valuables and important documents in the event of a fire in your home or business. There are many standards available worldwide. The UL-72 fire-resistant safe testing standard is one of the most recognized and respected fire testing standards in the industry.

There are several classes under the UL-72 testing standard, and each class represents the type of content it is supposed to protect. Within each class, they are then separated into different degrees of durability and whether additional impact testing is performed.

For example, Class 350 is designed for fire-resistant cases that meet this standard to protect paper from fire damage. Fire-resistant cases are placed inside an oven for 30, 60, 120 minutes or longer, depending on the fire rating to be achieved. After the oven is closed, it is cooled naturally. During this time, the internal temperature of the case cannot exceed 177 degrees Celsius and the paper backing inside cannot discolor or char.

Class 150 is designed to protect the safe from fire damage. The testing process is similar to Class 350, but the internal temperature requirements are stricter and cannot exceed 66 degrees Celsius and the relative humidity inside cannot exceed 85 percent. This is because humidity can corrupt some types of data.

Class 125 is one of the most stringent in terms of fire resistance requirements, as the internal temperature requirements of this standard cannot exceed 52 degrees Celsius and the relative humidity inside cannot exceed 80 percent. This class is designed for enclosures that protect items such as floppy disks whose physical material content includes magnetic content and is sensitive to high temperature and humidity.

In each class, in addition to the fire resistance test, the safe must undergo a second test called the explosion test. The furnace is heated to 1090 degrees Celsius and then the fire-resistant safe is placed in the furnace for a specified time, ranging from 20 to 30 minutes. The contents must not change color, char or deform, and the safe must also be intact without exploding. This test is to simulate the situation where a safe encounters a sudden fire and the sudden increase in temperature does not cause the safe to explode at its weak points due to the rapid expansion of the insulation layer properties (from liquid to gas).

Safes may also choose to complete an impact test, where the safe is put through a burn-in process before being removed from the furnace, then dropped from a height of 9 feet (XNUMX meters) and then placed back into the furnace for another period of time. The safe must be sturdy and the contents must survive the fire tests and the contents must not be damaged by fire. This is different from a standard drop test claim, as a standard drop test does not involve burning.

Purchasing a safe that has been tested and certified to international standards provides assurance that the protection needed is achieved.

Our organization, which has been trying to support businesses from every sector with its testing, measurement, analysis and evaluation studies carried out in a wide range for years, has a strong staff that closely follows the developments in the world in the field of science and technology and constantly improves itself. In this context, testing services in accordance with the "UL 72 Standard for fire resistance tests of record protection equipment" standard are also provided to businesses.