1 September What are the industry standards for Raised Access Flooring in the UK?

There are two industry standards relevant to raised access floors in the UK

In this article, we will discuss the two industry standards that apply to raised access floors in the UK

PSA MOB PF2 PS

Originally established by the Property Services Agency back in 1992, and is still relevant too  current practices. It covers:

• Application
• Dimensional Requirements
• Structural Performance
• Hydrothermal Requirements
• Fire & Safety Aspects
• Transmission of Sound
• Floor Coverings
• Electrical Requirements
• Side effects
• Durability
• Transportation
• Supply & Install
• Test Evidence

Each raised access floor system can be grades into these four categories:

– Light, general office accommodation without heavy equipment

– Medium, general office accommodation where it is expected that heavy equipment will be in use

– Heavy, computer rooms, telephone exchanges, public areas, control rooms, data centres

– Extra heavy, computer rooms or data centres with heavy equipment

The entire floor system must comply to the following loadings to achieve its rating:

The Access Floor Association was established, following the disbandment of the property services agency. The AFA remain the custodian of the PSA MOB PF2 PS standard. Visit the AFA’s website by clicking here

BS EN 12825

In 2001, a new European standard for raised access flooring was introduced which classifies floor systems based on the following standards:

• Their safety factor
• Deflection under working load
• Dimensional tolerances
• Ultimate Load

Each flooring system can fall into the following ultimate load classification:

Class 1 – Greater than or equal to 4kN

Class 2 – Greater than or equal to 6kN

Class 3 – Greater than or equal to 8kN

Class 4 – Greater than or equal to 9kN

Class 5 – Greater than or equal to 10kN

Class 6 – Greater than or equal to 12kN

The flooring system can achieve a safety factor of 3 or 2 depending how the ultimate load is divided to establish the working load and therefore its class. The choice depends on application and product type.

The working load is applied to the panel and a deflection class is established:

Class A – Maximum deflection – 2.5mm

Class B – Maximum deflection – 3.0mm

Class C – Maximum deflection – 4.0mm

The classifications are established by a 25mm point load being applied to the centre of the panel edge at a rate of 120 N/s, a graph as per below is produced which shows the Load at each relevant deflection point until the panel ultimately fails.

AFD conducts independent testing of all stock held access floor systems, please get in touch if you require more information. Click here to see AFD’s Indigo Raised Access Floor system