The Challenge
After several cable-related fires threatened worker safety and shut down production lines, the plant’s fire-engineering team engaged Antec to strengthen protection for critical electrical infrastructure.
Frequent fires inside cable basements, tunnels and switch rooms had already damaged vital power and control circuits. Each incident carried the risk of serious injury, significant repair costs and costly production downtime. To satisfy insurer FM Global, any new system also had to meet Standard FM3971, which sets strict limits on flame spread along cable routes.
What We Did
Antec supplied and audited the installation of the German-made KBS passive fire range:
- KBS ablative cable coating sprayed to a 1.6 mm dry film thickness, achieving nil flame propagation and preserving circuit integrity without derating cables.
- KBS coated panel seals installed at floor and wall penetrations to compartmentalise fire and smoke.
- Water-based formulation tested for 30 years of continuous exposure to sun, rain and UV with no loss of performance, giving asset owners long-term confidence.
Project management was led by Serco with on-site installation by All Industrial Services, while Antec conducted regular audits to verify compliance with FM Global requirements. The program has now been rolling out across the steelworks for more than eight years, reducing fire risk and ensuring production keeps moving.
