FM Approved
FM Approved sprinkler systems in the UK
FM Approved is a product approval mark. It belongs to equipment such as sprinkler heads, valves and pipework, not to a contractor. Where a UK site is insured by FM, the insurer expects the system to be built from FM Approved equipment and designed to FM Global Data Sheets rather than to the British Standard alone.
FM Approvals and the FM Global Property Loss Prevention Data Sheets Published by FM Approvals, part of FM
A US-owned occupier, or a UK site whose insurance sits with FM, where the specification names FM Approved equipment and Data Sheets.
What FM Approved actually requires
FM turns up in British buildings more often than people expect, and almost always through the insurer rather than through Building Regulations. It is worth being precise about what it is, because FM Approved is a claim about equipment and it is regularly mistaken for a claim about the installer.
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It approves equipment, not companies
An FM Approved sprinkler head, valve or coupling has been tested and listed by FM Approvals. The mark travels with the product. A contractor can specify, install and maintain FM Approved equipment correctly without holding an approval of their own, because the approval was never a contractor certification.
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The design comes from Data Sheets
FM publishes Property Loss Prevention Data Sheets, and where FM is the insurer those Data Sheets set the design rather than BS EN 12845. They are their own body of requirements, and on storage risks in particular they can be more demanding than the British route.
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It reaches the UK through insurance, not regulation
Nothing in Approved Document B requires FM. It arrives because the occupier is insured by FM, usually because the parent company is American. That means the requirement is contractual, and the consequence of missing it is a policy problem rather than a Building Control one.
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Substituting equipment is where it goes wrong
On an FM specified system, swapping a listed component for an equivalent that is not FM Approved can invalidate the basis of the whole installation, however good the part is. On these jobs the equipment schedule matters as much as the drawing.
Where it applies
- US-owned manufacturing and distribution sites in the UK
- Premises insured by FM
- High-value storage risks where the insurer has set the design basis
- Projects whose specification names FM Global Data Sheets
Not sure whether this is the standard your building is held to?
It is a survey question rather than a paperwork one, and it is free. We read the specification and the policy rather than assuming the default.
What we do to this standard
- BS EN 12845 and BS 9251 Design and installation New systems, extensions and upgrades, designed, installed and commissioned. Fire sprinkler system design and installation
- BS EN 12845 Sprinkler servicing The full BS EN 12845 routine, from the weekly gauge and alarm check to the annual service. Fire sprinkler servicing and maintenance
- BS EN 12845 Fire pumps Electric and diesel sets proved under flow, not just started and signed off. Fire pump servicing, testing and maintenance
FM Approved: questions
Is Sentry Sprinkler Protection FM Approved?
No, and it would be the wrong claim to make. FM Approved is a product approval that belongs to equipment such as heads, valves and pipework, not a certification held by contractors. What we do is work to the requirement: where a specification calls for FM Approved equipment and FM Global Data Sheets, we specify and install to it. Our own third-party certification is listed on our accreditation page.
What is the difference between FM Approved and LPCB approved?
They are two different third-party schemes with different owners. FM Approvals is part of FM, the American insurer, and its mark is best known on equipment. LPCB is operated by BRE in the UK and certifies both products and, separately, installers. UK insurers and specifiers most often ask for LPCB; FM tends to appear where the insurer is FM.
Our specification names FM Data Sheets. Does BS EN 12845 still apply?
Usually the FM Data Sheets set the design and the British Standard is not the governing document, but the two are not mutually exclusive and a building can still have British Standard obligations alongside the insurer requirement. The honest answer is that it depends on the specification, which is why the first thing to do is read it rather than assume the default.
Can we mix FM Approved and non-approved equipment?
On a system whose basis is FM, that is a risk not worth taking. Substituting a non-approved component for a listed one can undermine the basis of the installation even if the part performs perfectly well, because what the insurer bought was the listing. Where an item is genuinely unavailable, that is a conversation to have with the insurer in advance and in writing.
Worth reading next
- Compliance What your insurer actually wants from a sprinkler system Insurers price a sprinkler system as risk mitigation only if they can trust it. LPCB approval of the contractor and an unbroken maintenance record are the two things that make it count.
- Compliance BS EN 12845, in plain English BS EN 12845 is the European standard for the design, installation and maintenance of fixed fire sprinkler systems in commercial and industrial buildings. It is the document that sets the weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annual routines a UK sprinkler system has to be kept to.
- Sprinklers Sprinklers in warehouses: why racking changes everything A warehouse sprinkler system is designed against a specific storage height, storage arrangement and commodity class. Raising the racking, changing what is stored or adding racking under a roof-only design can leave the system unable to control a fire it was never designed for.
The published documents behind this page
We work to these. Where a figure on this page comes from one of them, this is where to check it.
- FM ApprovedFM Approvals Approval Guide
The searchable register of every FM Approved product. FM Approved is a product approval: it certifies equipment, not contractors, so a specification naming it is a specification about what goes in the building.
FM Approvals LLC
- FM Data SheetsFM property loss prevention data sheets
Where FM is the insurer, these set the design rather than BS EN 12845, and on storage risks they can be more demanding than the British route. Published free.
FM
- BS EN 12845Fixed firefighting systems. Automatic sprinkler systems. Design, installation and maintenance
The standard commercial and industrial sprinkler systems are designed, installed and maintained to. It sets the weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual routines.
BSI
British Standards are copyright documents and most are bought rather than read free. We hold the ones we work to. If you need to know what one of them says about your building, ask us rather than buying it.
Approved, and audited on a schedule.
Two certifications, and the first one is the reason we could apply for the second. ISO 9001 is a precondition for LPCB approval, so this is a sequence rather than a collection.
ISO 9001:2015
Certified by BRE Global, accredited by UKAS
An audited quality management system. It means the way a job is planned, recorded and signed off is itself inspected by somebody independent, on a schedule.
LPCB approved
Loss Prevention Certification Board
The approval UK insurers look for on sprinkler work. A system installed by an LPCB approved contractor counts as genuine risk mitigation on your policy; one installed by anybody else may not.
Working to BS EN 12845, BS 9251 and BS 9990. If your insurer or fire risk assessor wants the certificates themselves, ring us and we will send them over.
Tell us the building. We will tell you what it is due.
No survey fee to find out where you stand. Describe the site and we will tell you which intervals apply and what the visit involves.