About EN 1090
EN 1090 is a European standard requiring a Factory Production Control system for the production of steel and aluminium components. Examples may include anything from farm buildings, houses, shops, stadia, bridges and other commercial buildings. These are a few examples and there will be many others. Achieving accredited certification against EN 1090 is a requirement to allow CE marking of product.
Under The Construction Products Regulation 305/2011 it is a legal requirement for all construction product to be CE marked, hence this is a legal requirement for structural steel and aluminium.
There are four Execution classes of the FPC dependent on the activity of your company, EXC1 is the simplest and applicable to Farm buildings, EXC 2 for small residential structures, EXC 3, larger residential structures / bridges, EXC 4 stadia, power stations and Airport buildings. the level is loosely linked to the risk of injury in the event of a structural failure.
The FPC system should cover: contacting with clients, review of requirements (with capability to deliver), raw materials acquisition/quality, roles and qualifications of employees, particularly designers, welders and welding co-ordinators, production methodologies (welding, drilling, punching etc), equipment to be used, testing (as specified in the standard and by the client) through to finishing.
In addition to fabrication and welding companies, this standard is also relevant to stockholders who cut or alter steel/aluminium as this changes the characteristics.
Certification against EN 1090 is only acceptable via an accredited certification body via an accreditor such as INAB which are then appointed by the European Commission as a Notified body.
Potential Benefits of Achieving EN 1090 Certification
- Allows the company to apply CE marks to structural steel/Aluminium
- Legal compliance for structural steel/aluminium manufacturers
- Improves skills of employees – through ensuring qualified/trained to relevant levels, monitoring and testing product.
- Improves and ensures quality of product through testing regime and improvement suggestions from assessors.
- Increased revenue and profitability – through ability to tender and win contracts
- Demonstrates quality to customers improving company image
Integration of EN 1090
EN 1090 can also be combined via an Integrated Management System: