THE ASSOCIATION
Founded in 1979, the Construction Fixings Association is a trade association which comprises major manufacturers of construction fixings with a significant UK presence.

The Association endeavours to ensure that members observe a high level of integrity in all commercial activity and that all product information is provided in a clear useable form to specifiers and users.

The aims of the association are well summarised in the phrase “Ensuring Best Fixings Practice ”.

We do this by:

• Publishing a series of free Guidance Notes
• Being directly involved in the development of the Guidelines for European Technical Approval of anchors for safety critical applications.
• Being active in various BSI and European standards committees.
• Being actively involved with other influential bodies such as BBA, CIRIA, BSRIA, CEN, ISO and government departments.
• Supporting specific industries in the development of guidelines for their use of fixings.

The Future of Fixings

- Why European Technical Approvals are such a major step forward.

National Guidance

- Two areas where the UK has its own guidance: The distinction between cracked and non-cracked concrete and a UK definition of “Multiple use"

When is an ETA not an ETA?

- Advice to help specifiers ensure they really are getting ETA data.

European Technical Approvals in the Building Regulations

- Reference to ETAs is made in Approved Document A 2004 Edition

 
THE FUTURE OF FIXINGS – EUROPEAN TECHNICAL APPROVALS

Paul Langford, Chairman of the Construction Fixings Association, explains the significance of European Technical Approvals in the future of fixings.

The advent of European Technical Approvals will change dramatically the way engineers select fixings and is, I believe, the most exiting recent development in the world of fixings for the specifier. I would like to take this opportunity to explain why.

In the past when a specifier wanted to choose a fixing for a safety critical application he had to rely on the manufacturer's literature for load data, backed up possibly by independent test reports, and if he tried to compare the allowable loads of fixings from different manufacturers he had no way of knowing how similar was the basis of the tests used to determine them. Different countries used different approaches not only to testing but to determining allowable loads and if you looked in catalogues from different countries you would see widely different values for the same fixing! Things were not ideal for the manufacturer either. To gain acceptance in different countries tests had to be carried out to different customary methods or national approval procedures which was prohibitively expensive for smaller manufacturers.

The publication by EOTA (European Organisation for Technical Approvals), starting in 1997, of a series of Guidelines for European Technical Approvals (ETAGs) for fixings for safety critical applications has answered all these problems. These Guidelines set the test and assessment regimes for a wide range of anchor types used in concrete and are in the process of being extended to cover masonry. The test regimes they include are comprehensive and designed to make sure not only that published performance data is comparable and safe but that every approved anchor will function properly in whatever site conditions they may reasonably be expected to be used. New design methods lend themselves to selection by software so that every possible mode of failure is considered against the particular parameters of the job in hand and allowable loads adjusted accordingly.

The award of an ETA is also an integral step toward affixation of CE marking.

Since 1997 many manufacturers have been awarded ETAs on a broad range of products so there is a wide choice of approved anchors available.

The benefits to the specifier and installer are significant:

• Anchor performance is reliable and may be compared with similar types from other manufacturers on a like for like basis.
• Performance options are available that enable the most awkward installations to be designed taking account of variations in concrete strength, loading direction, edge and spacing distances etc.
• Selection by manufacturer's software means they are effectively endorsing the chosen anchor.
• Compliance with the Building Regulations is easy to demonstrate.
• ETAs are accepted through the European Union so projects may be designed in one country for construction elsewhere safe in the knowledge that the specified anchors will be accepted.
• The “Installation safety” of approved anchors has been checked and anchors will not be sensitive to potential on-site variations from the manufacturer's instructions.
• Installers will receive comprehensive installation instructions which are obligatory under the new system.
• Engineers can identify the installed product from obligatory markings.
• The regular assessment of factory production control procedures, as part of the Attestation of Conformity (at the highest possible level) for CE marking, means that the combination of CE marking and an ETA on an anchoring product is effectively a quality mark.
• Liability of specifiers and contractors is protected. 

A more detailed guide to the subject is available in a Guidance Note entitled: “European Technical Approvals for Anchors used in Construction” which may be downloaded from the Guidance Note page once you have registered for occasional updates from the association. This Guidance Note has been published by the Comité Européen D'Outillage (CEO), a trade group which includes fifteen fixing manufacturers from six countries, the Technical Committee of which the CFA currently holds the Chairmanship.

 Paul Langford,
Chairman - Construction Fixings Association. 

NATIONAL GUIDANCE

The Guideline referred to above refers to two aspects for which the relevant Guideline allows individual member states within the EU to set their own national guidance. In the UK both these aspects have been considered and national guidance agreed. Both these documents may be downloaded from this page without registration or logging on.

Use of anchors with European Technical Approvals. Uk Guidance - Distinction between cracked and non-cracked concrete

In ETAG 001 Metal anchors for use in concrete test and assessment criteria are laid out for a range of application options including use in concrete that may be cracked and non-cracked or which may be non-cracked only. This begs the question "When – in the context of anchoring – is concrete cracked and when is it non-cracked?”
The design method outlined in Annex C of ETAG001 allows member states to set their own guidance.
In the UK this issue has been considered by the National Technical Committee – Anchors* (at the request of the Construction Fixings Association) which commissioned a study of the cracking of concrete as it affects fixings and has published a guidance document “Use of anchors with European Technical Approvals. UK Guidance – Distinction between cracked and non-cracked concrete –”. This document may be downloaded from here . It explains the rationale behind the UK approach to when different concrete elements may be considered not to be cracked and includes a series of sketches to show the areas of different concrete sections which may be taken to be non-cracked without calculation.

This brings two benefits.

• a) The specifier may choose a fixing which is approved for use in non-cracked concrete only; this broadens the choice of fixings available for a given job.
• b) The specifier may chose a fixing approved for use in both cracked and non-cracked concrete and in the areas designated as non-cracked he may use the higher characteristic values allocated to the fixing for use in non-cracked concrete thus achieving a more cost effective design.

  This UK guidance document, also available from the BBA website, is referred to in the Building Regulations, 2004 Edition – see below.

  * The National Technical Committee – Anchors is the UK mirror group for the EOTA Working Group and provides the mandate for the UK representative on the EOTA Working group which is provided by BBA (British Board of Agrément )

Anchors for “Multiple use” – UK definition.

ETAG 001 Part 6 Anchors for multiple use in non-structural applications allows individual member states to set their own definition for which applications may be considered as “Multiple use”.

Again the CFA has approached the National Technical Committee – Anchors which agreed to set a definition for the UK. This definition may be downloaded from here.

This definition means that once anchors approved to Part 6 are available they may be used in a wider range of applications than would be the case if the default definition within Part 6 had been adopted. As well as all of the suspension type applications – such as suspended ceilings, heavy pipework, cable tray and ductwork - balustrades and storage racking may be tackled - along with applications using groups of four anchors per fixing point where significant loads, of up to 40kN per fixing point in any direction, are applied.