Wormald, a leading provider of fire protection solutions, has become one of the first companies in Australia with a vehicle fire suppression system to comply with Australian Standard AS 062-2006: Fire protection for mobile and transportable equipment.
By undergoing a series of rigorous fire tests and system component stress tests, Wormald has passed the system approval for its Foam Water Spray Vehicle Fire Suppression System to be compliant with AS 5062 and is CSIRO ActivFire™ listed. In addition, Wormald is in the process of having its Ansul™ A101 Vehicle Powder System, already FM Global approved, also achieve AS 5062 compliance.
Australian Standard AS 5062 is the first of its kind and it was key industries, such as mining and forestry as well as Occupational Health & Safety bodies, that were the driving force behind its introduction by Standards Australia. Failure of some vehicle fire suppression systems to perform due to a lack of fire industry standardisation had become a major concern.
Wormald’s Vehicle Fire Suppression Systems provide critically needed risk reduction management for heavy vehicles as well as plant and equipment used in the mining, quarrying, construction and forestry industries against the threat of fire. Should a fire break out, the Wormald systems are able to provide operators with the additional time necessary to safely evacuate. Importantly, the Wormald systems also provide protection against business interruption by minimising damage to the vehicle or equipment through the suppression of the fire.
“The recognised quality of Wormald’s Foam Water Spray System is further confirmed with its AS 5062 compliance – a Standard that sets the benchmark within the industry sector,” said Steve Oxley, National Products Manager – Vehicle Systems, Wormald.
“Wormald has always sought to deliver industry leading fire protection solutions to its clients, with its Foam Water Spray System already carrying ActivFire™ Scheme listing.
“Although not mandatory, we hope our compliance to AS 5062 sets an industry-leading benchmark for our competitors to follow and that this is the first step towards ensuring all vehicles that are equipped with vehicle fire suppression systems are of the very highest quality.”
Already, AS 5062 has garnered support from the NSW Department of Primary Industries as well as the mining and forestry industries. Brett Jones, General Manager of one of the leading forestry machine manufacturers, Komatsu Forest Australia, stresses the importance of a fire suppression system that is capable of addressing both operator safety and equipment protection. “Each piece of equipment we sell is fitted with a fire suppression system. It’s absolutely essential that the system can ensure the safety of the operator as well as protect the machine from damage should a fire occur. Additionally, it’s vital that a fire is quickly suppressed before it can reach the forest.
“We’ve been supporting the introduction of this Standard for a long time now. Like many in the industry we’re all too aware of the implications of a system that’s not up to scratch. We’ve been working with Wormald for 16 years and it’s a testament to their expertise that they’re one of the first to achieve compliance.”
In accordance with AS 5062, Wormald provides a risk assessment process which will assist in determining the most appropriate system to use for each vehicle application. These systems include the Wormald Foam Water Spray System and the Ansul A101 Vehicle Powder System. The Foam Water Spray System features high pressure, small droplet nozzles targeting high risk areas such as engine and transmission compartments, brakes and hydraulic areas and utilises the fire suppression and containment features of Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF). Alternately, the A101 system discharges a dry powder known as Foray® into the hazard volume to suppress a fire and is well suited to three dimensional liquid fuel fires.
Another major component to AS 5062 is the regular inspection, testing, preventative maintenance and survey procedures for the vehicle fire suppression systems to ensure that a system is fully functional and will perform as designed if a fire occurs. Wormald is now offering such measures under its Quality Assurance approach to testing and maintenance.
“All Wormald technicians involved with these systems are required to have completed our Vehicle Fire Suppression Systems certification programme,” advised Oxley. “To further enhance the skill levels of our technicians, Wormald will be rolling out a full Registered Training Organisation competency-based system for Certificate II and III in Fire Protection Equipment – Vehicle Fire Systems that is recognised under the Australian Qualifications Framework.”
