Headway Heading the Field in Firestopping

Headway Chemicals India Pvt Ltd, Pune is proud to announce its collaboration with Firestopit, an established British manufacturer of passive fire protection products. With a manufacturing facility of over 55,000 sqft, ISO 9001:2008 and in-house testing facilities, the products are kept up to date and all hold 3rd Party testing certification.

The stability of a building whether it be a highrise, metro station, domestic dwelling, electrical room, data storage area etc depends on the performance of all the component parts of the structure. Firestopping is a critical element of a building as the Clients/Engineers/Consultants have responsibility to ensure their building withstands fire for a reasonable amount of time to allow safe escape of the occupants and safe entry of the fire fighters who attend the incident. This minimises potential danger to life and also potential possessions/data loss. Insurers also have an interest in the way in which buildings perform in a fire situation, not least of which is their desire to avoid total property or business loss. Resumption of operations in a building at the earliest is in everyone's interest.

Not only the appropriate materials should be specified but also a competent installation contractor should also be appointed. Passive fire protection should be installed correctly and the works signed off to ensure that it will operate as desired when it's needed in the event of a fire.

Passive Fire Protection when used within the safety design of a building offers either structural stability or acts as fire-separating elements – compartmentalisation. In both cases, the products must provide protection for the specified fire rated period. Built-in protection provides time for the other parts of fire strategy to work – alarm being raised/active fire systems/evacuation/fire fighters to arrive etc.

Headway Chemicals realised the need in India to offer a complete range of products that could meet the demands of the firestopping market in the construction industry. Using their existing focus of technically reliable products and solutions, the Firestopit range of products has been launched in India with a view to being offered professionally and with the most integral service.

The materials offered definitely suit the application and due care and attention is taken to ensure that the materials are installed correctly. Working with the Engineers and Fire Safety Officers, we want to ensure that the Client can rely on the materials, installation and after-service. Sarbjit Singh, Director of Headway Chemicals noted "The importance of correct specification, use and installation of firestopping materials cannot be underestimated. We offer a very technically competent service to our clients and also offer advice and guidance at any stage of the specification process. Firestopping should have traceability from specification to purchasing the material to installation and a detailed maintenance plan should also be in place for any further works that need to be carried out which affect an installation."