Does Standardisation Ensure a Reliable Assessment of the Performance of Construction Products?

Abstract

The implementation of a standard should be preceded by research work aimed at developing the test method, particularly in validation experiments. Is it actually so? Numerous experiences of producers and labs and an increasing number of scientific works prove the opposite. It turns out that some standard methods are very poorly suited to assessing the performance of construction products. This is related both to the specificity of the methods and the tested products. This article presents some product assessment problems and the risk of using test methods that have not been fully validated. The risk seems relatively low if laboratories account for their own uncertainty. However, in some cases, additional components that both laboratories and product manufacturers might fail to consider can significantly increase the risk. This indicates the need for continuous work in the reference area.