CPR Explained

CPR stands for Construction Product Regulations

It is a set of regulations for construction products that aims to break down technical barriers, provide a common technical language, assess the performance of construction products, and harmonise the rules for marketing these products.

The Construction Product Regulations cover all permanently installed cables within a building, including communication, power and control cables in fixed installations. Except for products such as patch leads, display leads and power leads.

Euroclass - What does it mean?

Within the Construction Product Regulations, there are several classes denoting the level of fire safety of the cable, known as Euroclass. It is named in this way because the regulations originated in the EU.

The classes are Aca, B1ca, B2ca, Cca, Dca, Eca, and Fca.

Some additional criteria

• Smoke production (s1a, s1b, s2, s3)
• Acidity (a1, a2, a3)
• Flaming droplets (d0, d1, d2)

You may see a cable listed as B2ca s1a d1 a1, this suggests that the B2ca cable has a minimal contribution to fire, s1a means that it has little smoke production, d1 means that it has no flaming droplets that last for more than 10 seconds and finally, a1 means less emission of acid.

Which class should you choose?

The class you use for a project will depend hugely on where the cable is installed. For example, for hospital wards, children’s nurseries, airports, railways etc., a minimum of B2ca should be used because the contribution to fire from B2ca cable is very low.

On the other hand, the slightly cheaper Cca (the minimum standard in the UK) could be installed in a commercial building, such as an office or warehouse.

B2ca Cable

XX6A0004	XX6A0009
XX60004	XX60004B	XX60004BK	XX60004GY
XX60004O	XX60004WH	XX60004Y

Cca Cable

XX5E0001C

Dca Cable

XX6A0001Z	XX6A0005
XX60003	XX60003B	XX60003BK	XX60003G
XX60003GY	XX60003O	XX60003R	XX60003WH
XX60009	XX60009
XX5E0001	XX5E0001B	XX5E0001BK	XX5E0001G
XX5E0001O	XX5E0001R	XX5E0001Y	XX5E0009