Fire Resistant Shade Cloth

Fire resistant shade cloth is constructed from HDPE infused with flame retardant compounds, resulting in a product that is less likely to catch alight and cause a large fire on site.

Fire resistant shade cloth is particularly important in the construction industry, especially after several well-publicised building site fires recently. These involved scaffolding mesh which is similar to shadecloth. Typically polyurethane scaffolding shadecloth has been routinely used over the years, but it has been proven to be highly flammable.

Shade Cloth Fires

Fires such as those on a Sydney CBD building site became serious incidents when the containment netting caught alight and spread quickly, resulting in emergency services attending and workers being evacuated. The containment netting involved in the incident was manufactured from polyurethane and fibreglass, and it did not have a fire retardant substance built in.

This was the third incident in a series of scaffolding shadecloth fires during 2018, reports Safe Work Australia.

With construction sites often strewn with highly combustible materials such as wood, gas bottles and solvents, the risks of using inferior scaffold mesh are obvious.

How To Tell If Shade Cloth Is Fire Resistant

Safe Work Australia reports that “there is no current Australian standard or industry guidance that prescribes acceptable performance criteria for the flammability of containment netting/sheeting.” 

However, suppliers are obliged to test fire resistant shade cloth and report the findings regarding flammability. The principal contractor of the project should press suppliers for these results to ensure the risk to workers is minimised.

Fire Resistant Shade Cloth

Jaybro’s fire resistant shade cloth is designed to comply with Australian flammability testing procedures. This flame retardant shade cloth is ideal for building sites and scaffolding where fire resistant properties are required.

Available in 50 metre rolls measuring 1.8 metres wide, it has a 248gsm fabric weight which offers good shade and block out properties. Used as site mesh, scrim, scaffold mesh, general site shade cloth or fence mesh, this fire resistant shade cloth has been tested to the recommended standards.

As required by Safe Work Australia guidance material, this shadecloth is tested to AS/NZS 1530 Methods for fire tests on building materials, components and structures. The test results offer the following scores for the different aspects of flammability.

For more information refer to AS/NZS 1530.3:1999 and AS/NZS 1530.2:1993

Shop for Shadecloth at Jaybro

Jaybro stocks a wide range of scaffold netting and shade cloth for construction sites. Available in large quantities, our shade cloth is designed to shade and protect your site, plus we offer branding so you can get your logo printed on construction mesh. Call our friendly team for more information or take a look at our specifications on branded shade cloth.