Harmonized EN15649 Standards Series for Floating Leisure Articles

Sept. 11, 2013 - PRLog -- The standards EN 15649 are harmonized under the directive 2001/95/EC general safety requirement and will enter into force on 7 August 2013.

EN 15649 Standards Series for Floating Leisure Articles

EN15649 specifies safety requirements and testing methods related to materials, safety, and performance for floating leisure articles for use on and in water. The scope of EN 15649 covers floating leisure articles for persons of a minimum age of 36 months & above, and used in deep water where the user is out of its standing depth.

Floating leisure articles are classified as class A, B, C, D and E devices in EN15649 as described in a table within the latest SafeGuards bulletin (http://newsletter.sgs.com/eNewsletterPro/uploadedimages/000006/sgs-safeguards-15013-european-standards-en15649-harmonized-under-directive-200195ec-a4-en-13.pdf).

EN 15649 Standards Series Requirements

In EN 15649 (parts 1-7), below requirements are concerned:

- Entrapment hazard for foot/leg, head/neck and torso
- Entanglement hazard
- Human subject testing, such as floating stability
- Design working pressure
- Load bearing
- Towing device
- Valves and valve adapters
- Edges, corners and points
- Shearing and crushing points
- Strength of the hull and test conditions
- Pressure test for inflatables (cyclic pressure test, overpressure test)
- Heat test
- Air tightness test for inflatables
- Buckles and other fixings
- Chemical requirement for material (such as resistance to mineral oil, resistance to chlorinated salt water)
- Physical requirement for material (resistance to cold/ heat, resistance to puncturing)
- Mechanical requirements (resistance to puncturing, adhesion of coating)
- Durability of warning and marking
- Consumer information

The EN15649 series consists of seven parts. For all floating leisure articles, the requirements of EN 15649-1 and EN15649-2 have to be met. The other parts of the standard – EN 15649-3/4/5/6/7 are only for applicable for specific product classes as described in a table within the latest SafeGuards bulletin (http://newsletter.sgs.com/eNewsletterPro/uploadedimages/0...).

Reference:

(1) Commission implementing decision on European standards series EN 15649, Official Journal of the European Union (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:... )

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