European norm
EN 14904 - The European standard for indoor sports floors
The European Committee for Standardisation CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation) has spent more than 20 years drafting an European standard for multifunctional indoor sports floors. Descol played a pioneering role in this process, as chairman of Dutch Working Group 2 “Indoor Sports Floors”. This working group, which operates both at European and at national level, includes representatives from the manufacturers, end-users, sports federations and research organisations. Together, we drafted the new standard, which was published in April 2006: EN 14904. Since then, various European member states have started implementation projects, to integrate this standard into their respective national standardisations.
The desire to draw up an European standard for multifunctional indoor sports floors was actually quite an obvious one. After all, sports is an international phenomenon. If the rules of the game and the layout of the sports surfaces are the same, then it’s only natural that the floors on which these sports are played, also match in terms of performance. This is what the EN 14904 guarantees, albeit that countries are free to move within a certain bandwidth.
Safety first
The basis for European standardisation is the minimum performance level of the sports floor, divided into three categories. There are the so-called essential safety requirements for users, such as shock absorption and friction, but also fire-resistance and emission of hazardous substances. Safety is one of the main issues in the new standard, aimed in particular to meet the expectations of users. A CE-labelled floor guarantees that it is safe to play sports on, while the owner of the floor is sure of a sustainable product that will last for years. If a product meets the essential safety requirements, it is allowed to carry the CE mark. To meet all requirements of the standard, however, the product must also meet various requirements in two other categories. These concern a number of sports characteristics, such as levelness, vertical ball behaviour and a variety of technical properties, such as resistance to impact and resistance to a rolling load. If all requirements are met, a manufacturer is able to offer an EN 14904-certified floor.
Well thought-out standard
This European standard may be called unique. In particular because the requirements laid down in it are very high, also for countries in the European Union who have not yet reached a high level of development
in sports floors. The EN standard goes much further than comparable standards in the United States or Asia. It is by far the most well thought-out and developed standard ever published. Nevertheless, the standard does not go far enough, according to some European member states. The EN 14904 standard only specifies the minimum technical requirements for multifunctional sports floors.
Adaptions and integration in national standards
The publication of the original EN standard is done by CEN. Once released by CEN national standardisation bodies like DIN, BSI, AFNOR, NBI, UNE, etc. can publish the standard - if required in their own language - and add a national introduction. These bodies can also write the earlier mentioned more detailed requirements within the general bandwidth and additional local requirements not covered in the European standard. In the Netherlands NOC*NSF is responsible, on behalf of the national sports federations, for the publication of the multipurpose standards at the national level. NOC*NSF has implemented NEN-EN 14904 as the basis, to which existing Dutch complements have been added in order to arrive at the updated NOC*NSF standard. The new release was published on the 1st of January 2009. Several European countries released the standard earlier, DIN still has to fully transfer to the EN harmonised methods. Member states have a 2 year period to integrate the standard during which time buyers have to pay extra attention to specifications and test reports. In order to compare apples with apples one needs to assure that published results are achieved under the same test method and release of the standard. National standardisation bodies or sports federations can provide more detailed information on the current status on a local level. You can of course also contact the export department at Descol (export@descol.nl).
Approval and characterisation
Harmonised test methods are used in laboratory research to demonstrate that the requirements set in the standard have been met. Therefore laboratory approval according EN 14904 in one European country by an official institute is also valid in another. Descol’s Dutch ISA Sport reports therefore have the same value all over Europe. After passing the standard floor can be characterised in typical classes as per the informative annex of the standard. The goal of this is to give specifiers a general idea of the type of performance one can expect from a certain floor. After all point-elastic floors behave differently than area-elastic floors as explained in the crash-course on pages 4 to 11. The Pulastic range of sports flooring systems contains a wide selection of floor types, each with unique characteristics. There is a Pulastic floor according to each characterisation in the EN 14904. For Descol, the new standard had two important effects. On the one hand some floors had to be reengineered to meet the standard. On the other hand, the new test methods resulted in several floors being classified in a different category. This all challenged the Pulastic Research & Development team to use the EN standard as the guide for the development and testing of new floors.
Quality Control
EN 14904 states that obtaining certification requires not only a type rating issued by an acknowledged institute, but also quality control during production. Companies such as Descol, who are ISO 9001-certified, are automatically qualified. In the Netherlands, Descol additionally chooses to supply products under certification. This means that all its floors are registered and continually inspected using a fixed system of site tests by an acknowledged institute.
Minimal is not good enough
The minimum performance requirements listed in EN 14904 constitute a major step forward towards greater standardisation of multifunctional indoor sports floors in Europe. But meeting minimum requirements is by far not good enough for Descol. That is why Descol floors perform in the upper end of the bandwidth specified, both in terms of safety and sports performance, and in terms of mechanical load-bearing capacity. The product development is a continuous process improve quality. This is only logical. Descol has been developing, manufacturing and installing sports floors in the Netherlands and abroad since 1965. Looking at the more than 25 million square meters of sports floors we have installed over the years, it may come as no surprise that Descol is able to offer a full range of EN 14904-certified sports floors.
The European standard for outdoor sports floors
Descol supplies multi-purpose outdoor sports floors according to a number of substandards given by the European standard. With this, a long-cherished wish to also be able to enjoy the comfort and superior quality of Pulastic sports floors outdoor, can be achieved. For further details please contact export@descol.nl
Pulastic Comfort Court 50
Worldwide our Comfort Court 50 is the only outdoor sports floor which is developed under these standardisations. more outdoor flooring
