The British Board of Agrément has announced a ‘natural progression’ to its industry-leading cer-tification services with news of a new Reinforcing Steel Scheme designed to offer a straightforward and robust route to demonstrating industry compliance.
The Watford-based organisation has worked closely with the rebar sector and wider supply chain to ensure the scheme is straightforward yet robust, providing assurance that reinforcing steel products manufactured within its scope meet the relevant standards.
“Our scheme covers production at steel mills, cold rolling and processing and assures the supply chain of a high quality, consistent product verified by a third party auditing process control,” said Bill Hewlett, BBA Technical Director.
“The BBA has been listening to, talking with and questioning a wide range of stakeholders within the construction industry for many months to better understand their needs and develop solutions that match their requirements. The Reinforcing Steel Scheme is an example of this and will offer our existing clients and new customers a high-quality service that brings choice to the sector and meets the needs of major construction projects.”
The Scheme assesses manufacturing, process control and management systems to industry defined standards, backed by continual benchmarking through material testing; the BBA samples products and witnesses in-house testing to determine compliance. Samples are also sub-mitted to 3rd party UKAS accredited labs for confirmation on material compliance.
“This is an exciting development for us,” added Bill. “The BBA has more than 50 years’ experi-ence in Agrément Certification, management systems audits/inspections and product testing, with huge depth of knowledge and skills within the organisation. It is a natural progression for us to apply this breadth of experience to the rebar market to assist in upholding industry best practice and a professional supply chain whilst working with product manufacturers to support their innovation.”
Standards currently covered by the scheme include:
Part 1: Underpinning Scheme Requirements: This part of the process confirms certification of a quality management system that complies with the requirements of BS EN ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System.
Part 2: Production: This part of the scheme confirms the manufacturing and / or supply of products that conform with:
o BS 4449:2005 Steel for the reinforcement of concrete — Weldable reinforcing steel — Bar, coil and decoiled product — Specification.
o BS 6744: 2016 Stainless steel bars. Reinforcement of concrete. Requirements and test meth-ods.
Part 3: Cold Rolling: This part of the scheme confirms the manufacturing and/or supply of products that confirm with BS 4482: 2005 Steel wire for the reinforcement of concrete products. Specification.
Part 4: Fabrication: This part of the scheme confirms the manufacturing and/or supply of prod-ucts that conform with:
- BS 8666: 2020 Scheduling, dimensioning, bending and cutting of steel reinforcement for concrete. Specification.
- BS 8666: 2005 Scheduling, dimensioning, bending and cutting of steel reinforcement for concrete. Specification.
- BS 4483: 1998 Steel fabric for the reinforcement of concrete. Specification.
- BS 4483: 2005 Steel fabric for the reinforcement of concrete. Specification.
- BS 7123: 1989 Specification for metal arc welding of steel for concrete reinforcement
- BS EN ISO 17660-1: 2006 Welding. Welding of reinforcing steel. Load-bearing welded joints
- BS EN ISO 17660-2: 2006 Welding. Welding of reinforcing steel. Non load-bearing welded joints
- BS 8597: 2015 Steels for the reinforcement of concrete. Reinforcement couplers. Re-quirements and test methods. Part 5: Stocking and Distribution: This part of the scheme confirms the requirements for stock-ing and distribution of products to BS 4449, BS 4482 and BS 4483
Note: This is not a definitive list of standards covered under the Reinforcing Steel Scheme and may be amended to reflect individual customer requirements.
