What is the FM Approval Guide and how does it assist roofing professionals?

The FM Approval Guide contains real time information on the thousands of products that have earned the right to display the ‘FM Approved’ mark. The products only become FM Approved after going through a rigorous testing regime and ongoing monitoring of production facilities.

This guide enables building professionals to select products, including roof cover boards, with the confidence that they have been tested and approved by FM Approvals, one of the world’s leading third-party testing and certification bodies.

How does a manufacturer’s product get listed in the FM Approval Guide?

To get a product listed in the FM Approval Guide a manufacturer must apply to FM Approvals and go through a 5-step process. Only when all 5 steps have been successfully completed will the manufacturer earn the right to be listed in the FM Approval Guide.

Once the manufacturer has taken the first step and submitted a request to FM Approvals that they would like their product to be listed, the second step is for FM Approvals to evaluate all the product, manufacturing, technical and specification data and draw up a scope of works. This scope details all the necessary independent testing and evaluation that FM Approvals will undertake to assess and validate the performance of the product.

The third step is for the product testing to be carried out along with a visit to the manufacturer’s production facility to evaluate the effectiveness of quality control procedures and check they are being followed.

The fourth step is for all test results and evaluations to be checked and reviewed against FM Approvals requirements to ensure that they support the performance declarations made by the manufacturer. If this is the case, then an FM Approval report is sent to the manufacturer and, from the date on that report, they can label the product as ‘FM Approved’.

The last step is the requirement that all manufacturers with products listed in the FM Approvals Guide are subject to regular audits of their factory and processes by FM Approvals. In this way, the manufacturers products can be monitored to check that they continue to meet the high standards required to retain their listing. If products fail to do so, they will be de-listed.

This final step gives reassurance to building professionals that those products listed in the FM Approval Guide will continue to meet the standards required by the approval process.

How can you get access to the FM Approval Guide?

The FM Approval Guide can be accessed online and holds information on over 52,000 FM Approved products from more than 2,500 companies. If you would like to join more than 160,000 other users of the guide, there is a simple way to create an account that will give you access.

The system can carry out advanced searches and filtering on the listed FM Approved products to make it easier for you to choose tried and tested components for your flat or low slope roofing project.

DensDeck® Roof Boards have undergone the thorough testing and ongoing surveillance required to be listed in the FM Approval Guide. If you would like to know how DensDeck® Roof Boards FM Approved products can support and assist you with your next roofing project, please contact one of our expert team today.