TY - CONF A1 - Lohrer, Christian A1 - Fink, Heidrun A1 - Kurth, Lutz T1 - Failure rates of consumer fireworks - testing experiences by the notified body BAM N2 - Before fireworks articles are permitted to be placed on the EU market, they need to undergo several tests to demonstrate their functional behavior. The European Directive, 2007/23/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 May 2007 on the placing on the market of pyrotechnic articles, defines so-called “essential safety requirements” (ESR, refer to the respective Annex I) which must be met by all pyrotechnic articles. The specific tests and further requirements on function and construction are defined in the downstream harmonized Standards. By application of these Standards, a conformity assumption to the ESR is triggered. In case of consumer fireworks, the EN 15947 applies. The provisions of Directive 2007/23/EC were implemented into German legislation in October 2009 and numerous conformity assessment procedures (e.g. approval tests) of consumer fireworks have since been performed by the European notified body, BAM. This paper focuses on consumer fireworks and aims at giving an overview of the achieved results, such as observed failure rates, nonconformities depending on the fireworks types, findings of prohibited Chemicals, etc. A comparison with other published test results is presented as well. T2 - 14th International symposium on fireworks CY - Changsha, China DA - 14.10.2013 KW - Altitude measurement techniques KW - Measurement uncertainties KW - Standardisation PY - 2013 SN - 978-0-9867279-4-8 SN - 978-0-9867279-6-2 SP - 166 EP - 180 AN - OPUS4-29383 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Lohrer, Christian A1 - Fink, Heidrun A1 - Kurth, Lutz T1 - Quality systems for fireworks - auditing experiences by the notified body BAM N2 - The coming into force of the European Directive 2007/23/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 May 2007 on the placing on the market of pyrotechnic articles changed the Situation regarding fireworks productions and tests in Europe significantly. According to the provisions of this Directive, the manufacturers/importers have to assure that fireworks articles are type tested by a Notified Body (or on behalf of a Notified Body) under this Directive before being placed on the European market and fulfill the essential safety requirements as per Annex I of the Directive 2007/23/EC. In addition, it is mandatory that the articles produced after the initial type test will be in conformity to the introduced type. The best sustainable way to assure this is the application of effective quality Systems (QS). Germany has a comparatively long tradition regarding auditing of such QS. Since 1978 it is mandatory for manufacturers/importers to set up adequate QS. The respective QS were extensively audited since the beginning of the 1990s in various countries to cover imported fireworks that were tested in a foreign country where the production took place. Within this long term auditing process in Germany, the QS strategies and contents changed in time due to new regulations and Standards, as well as gaining experiences (“lessons learned”). Recent audits carried out by BAM showed significant nonconformities in the QS of several Companies. Moreover, numerous small importers in Europe might be overwhelmed by the new regulations, leading to situations where products are placed on the European market, which were not sufficiently tested. This paper aims at giving an overview of the various advantages and weak points of all possible conformity assessment procedures regarding QS as set out in the Annex II of the Directive 2007/23/EC for fireworks, taking into account comprehensive experiences in this field by the Notified Body, BAM. T2 - 13th International symposium on fireworks CY - Valletta, Malta DA - 23.04.2012 KW - 2007/23/EC KW - QS modules KW - Product safety PY - 2012 SN - 978-0-9867279-3-1 SP - 159 EP - 172 AN - OPUS4-25796 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Lohrer, Christian A1 - Kampa, Andreas A1 - Fink, Heidrun A1 - Kurth, Lutz A1 - Alef, G. T1 - Burst height measurements of spherical shells for different calibers and mortar lengths N2 - The current European draft Standard series FprEN 16261:2012 for display fireworks gives requirements on mortar lengths for different calibers to be used in the respective type and batch tests of spherical Shells. For each nominal shell caliber, a minimum and maximum permitted mortar length is defined. The mortar lengths deviations increase by increasing nominal calibers and the possible influence on the bürst height can only roughly be estimated. The aim of this work was to specify this influence of the mortar length on the bürst height of spherical Shells with regard to the permitted tolerances on performance parameters in type and batch tests as given in FprEN 16261-2:2012. Moreover, commonly used height measuring techniques were parallel taken to determine the bürst heights and were compared to each other in order to find an optimal test method for such measurements concerning accuracy, handling, application and costs. The following spherical Shells were part of this study: • Caliber 65 mm red peony, • Caliber 100 mm red peony, • Caliber 150 mm red peony, and • Caliber 200 yellow to blue - white flashing. For each caliber type, 15 single items were fired: 7 from the mortar offering the required minimum length and 8 from the mortar close to the required maximum length according to FprEN 16261:2012. T2 - 13th International symposium on fireworks CY - Valletta, Malta DA - 23.04.2012 KW - Altitude measurement techniques KW - Measurement uncertainties KW - Standardisation PY - 2012 SN - 978-0-9867279-3-1 SP - 145 EP - 158 AN - OPUS4-25795 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -