Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Aspen Aerogels has won an initial determination US International Trade Commission (ITC) against Alison Hi-Tech and Nano Tech with regard to patents related to aerogel insulation. Administrative Law Judge McNamara found that Alison Hi-Tech and Nano Tech had infringed against three patents. McNamara also recommended a limited exclusion order as a remedy to prevent the importation of infringing aerogel products into the US. A final determination on the violation and remedy is expected from the full ITC commission by 29 January 2018.

UK: Gene Murtagh, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Kingspan Group, has called for a number of changes to be made to fire safety regulations for buildings in the UK. He called for large-scale testing under BS8414 to be extended to cover all cladding systems, a strengthening of the way desktop studies are used in fire safety compliance, improved training for installers of building facades and better control of fire safety through the design and construction process of buildings. His comments were made to Building Magazine following the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 and at the start of the Public Inquiry into the incident.

“So far as I am aware, polyethylene (PE) cored Aluminium Composite Materials (ACM) have never been successfully tested in a cladding system in a manner consistent with building regulations so it is hard to understand how this product ever ended up on Grenfell Tower,” said Murtagh. “Similarly, given the fire performance characteristics of these ACM cladding panels, it is no surprise in my view that they performed so poorly in combination with a range of insulation types in the recent series of large-scale tests by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).” said Murtagh added that fire safety is an ‘extremely complex’ field and that any investigation needs to consider a wide range of factors.

The majority of the insulation purchased for use in a refurbishment of Grenfell Tower prior to the fire was Celotex’s RS5000 polyisocyanurate foam (PIR) insulation board. However, Kingspan confirmed in July 2017 that a small amount of its Kooltherm K15 phenolic insulation product had also been used without its knowledge and that it had no involvement in the design or specification of the refurbishment.

UK: The British Rigid Urethane Foam Manufacturers’ Association (BRUFA) has warned against ‘misleading’ claims being made in relation to the Grenfell Tower fire ahead of a government investigation. In a statement the body for the rigid polyisocyanurate (PIR) and polyurethane (PUR) Insulation Industry in the UK said it would challenge and correct any misleading allegations about the incident and provide information to assist an ‘accurate’ analysis. It added that the PIR and PUR insulation industry is an established and responsible one with a usage of over 50 years in the construction sector.

“We have a growing concern that misleading claims, supported by selective data are gaining traction and being reported as facts. If this supposition takes hold before the enquiry has established the truth of the matter, there is a danger it will lead to the wrong conclusions and decisions, that will do nothing to improve the future safety of buildings, including high-rise tower blocks. It may also lead to behavioural changes that could be detrimental to the future welfare of the built environment,” said BRUFA.

The UK government has appointed Martin Moore-Bick, a former judge, to head the public inquiry into the fire. As well as investigating the incident, the inquiry is expected to recommend changes to national building regulations.

US: TopBuild will pay Owens Corning US$30m to settle a contract dispute from mid-2016. Owens Corning has also agreed to dismiss a lawsuit it filed in May 2016 against the insulation distributor and installer. Additional details of the settlement agreement remain confidential. Following the agreement both companies plan to resume a ‘productive and normalised’ commercial relationship whereby Owens Corning will sell residential insulation to TopBuild and its subsidiaries, including TruTeam.

US: Honeywell has filed legal action against MEK Chemical for selling HFC-245fa in the US, an alleged violation of a Honeywell process patent. The liquid blowing agent used in the production of foam insulation, is manufactured by Honeywell under the brand name Enovate, according to ICIS.

Australia: Businesses that suffered when the Home Insulation Program was closed are suing the federal government for more than US$72m in compensation. ACA Lawyers and McLaughlin & Riordan have launched a lawsuit on behalf of more than 100 people in the Victorian Supreme Court that alleges the government's mismanagement of the scheme resulted in business loss or forced them into bankruptcy, according to the Australian Associated Press agency.

The lawyers say that a Royal Commission set up following the closure of the Home Insulation Program failed to compensate businesses sufficiently. They allege that it only compensated companies operating before the insulation program was implemented not ones created afterwards to take advantage of it. 104 claims are believed to have been settled at a cost of US$9.7m despite thousands of businesses being affected.

The Home Insulation Program was shutdown in 2010 following the deaths of four workers.

UAE: The Ministry of Environment and Water is set to issue a decree to regulate the production of mineral wool and fiberglass industries. The new regulations are intended to increase the environmental sustainability and performance of the industries. They will set out applications and pollution control techniques. Producers will also be required to prepare an environmental management plan specific to their operations.

New Zealand: German building materials company Knauf has failed to get Fletcher Building's use of the 'Batts' trademark for building insulation thrown out on the grounds that it is a common name in general public use.

Justice Brendan Brown refused a request to revoke the trademark and said that the use of the word in the installation instructions on packaging didn't infringe trademark. "There is clearly a not insignificant degree of use of the words 'batt' and 'batts' to describe insulation in a generic, non-proprietary sense," Justice Brown said. "However, collectively this evidence is not of a quantity or a quality to cause me to be satisfied that the trademark has become a common name in general public use for pieces of fibrous insulation."

Knauf exported some of its Earthwool insulation to New Zealand in 2011, with packaging displaying the words 'batt' and 'batts' in the installation instructions, with sparked the litigation. Fletcher protested the use of its trademark word 'Batts' and Knauf subsequently claimed that the word had become generic to describe insulation.

The High Court case shows intense rivalry between the companies in New Zealand, where an estimated 15Mm² of insulation products are sold every year, most of it made from glass. Fletcher's subsidiary Tasman Insulation makes more than 7Mm² of insulation from recycled glass a year, sold under the Pink Batts brand.

Fletcher is facing increasing competition from Knauf, which has about US$1.9bn in annual insulation sales worldwide compared to Fletcher's US$1.3bn of total building product sales, which also includes plasterboard, aluminium doors and windows and roofing. In February 2014 Fletcher said that the local insulation market remained competitive as price declines offset volume gains.

Australia: An insulation industry representative was told 'not to rock the boat' when he warned government planners about safety risks in the Home Insulation Program. The comments have arisen in a royal commission into the Home Insulation Program that is investigating whether the deaths of four installers could have been avoided.

Peter Ruz, who worked for Fletcher Insulation and who was the director of the Insulation Council of Australia and New Zealand, raised safety issues with installing foil insulation when he was consulted about the scheme in 2009. According to Australian Broadcasting Corporation transcripts from the commission, Ruz said he told government planners that three installers in New Zealand had been electrocuted and that he recommended the use of other insulation materials. However, Ruz felt that planners at the meeting dismissed his comments as 'squabbling' between different insulation type producers. Ruz also alleges that he sent an Environment Department manager, Beth Brunoro, news cuttings of the deaths in New Zealand.

Brunoro previously told the inquiry earlier that concerns would have been taken into consideration when the guidelines were being created for the scheme. It is unclear exactly what happened with that information because Brunoro stopped overseeing the project in April 2009 and the insulation scheme started in full in July 2009.

rThe Home Insulation Program ran until February 2010. The royal commission, overseen by Richard Hanger, will submit its report by 30 June 2014.

US: Californian governor Jerry Brown has signed into law bill AB 127 that directs the California State Fire Marshal to consider fire safety without the use of toxic flame retardant chemicals, now commonly used in building insulation. The bill does not ban the use of chemicals such as a Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) but it does encourage a reduction in their use.

The Californian State Fire Marshal, in consultation with the Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation will review the flammability standards for building insulation materials. The State Fire Marshal may propose, by 1 July 2015, for consideration by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, updated insulation flammability standards whose objectives include maintaining overall building fire safety.