Manhole cover certifications

    Home  »  Manhole Covers  »   Manhole cover certifications

The manhole covers comply with standard EN 124:2015 “Gully tops and manhole tops for vehicular and pedestrian areas”.

This standard establishes the load classes, materials, construction and test principles, the marking and quality control of gully tops and manhole tops with a clear opening up to 1000 mm, for installation within areas subjected to pedestrian and/or vehicular traffic, and divided into six distinct parts:

  • Part 1: Definition, classification, general principles of design, performance requirements and test methods;
  • Part 2: Gully tops and manhole tops made of cast iron;
  • Part 3: Gully tops and manhole tops made of steel or aluminium alloys;
  • Part 4: Gully tops and manhole tops made of steel reinforced concrete;
  • Part 5: Gully tops and manhole tops made of composite materials;
  • Part 6: Gully tops and manhole tops made of polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) or unplasticized polyvinyl-chloride (PVC-U).

Part 1 sets forth the general requirements that all devices made of any type of material must fulfil. Plus, depending on the type of material they are manufactured with, the manhole tops and gully tops must meet the specific requirements in Parts 2 – 6.

In 2017, all manhole top and gulley top manufacturers implemented EN 124:2015 by voluntarily applying the new certification schemes, issued by independent, accredited certification bodies, pursuant to EN ISO 17065.

In order to provide the market with guidance on the application of the standard, the Italian manufacturers and the UNI standardisation body have drawn up a technical specification UNI/TR 11671:2017 ‘Gully top and manhole covers – Guidance for the application of series EN 124:2015′.

The EN 124:2015 series of standards has not yet been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, so currently the CE marking and the drawing up of the DoP (in accordance with Construction Products Regulation No. 305/2011) are not applicable to these products.

Based on EN 124:2015, the following information must be applied in a clear and durable manner on each cover, grating and frame:

  • reference standard (e.g. EN 124-5 for composite manhole covers);
  • appropriate load class (for example B125);
  • manufacturer identification name and/or trademark;
  • place of manufacture, also expressed as a code;
  • date or week and year of manufacture.

As mentioned above, as compliance with standard EN 124:2015 is voluntary, the manufacturer who obtains a product certification, issued by an independent accredited certification body, must include the marking of the body who issued this certification in a clear and durable manner on each cover, grating and frame.

The official documentation, for example the certificate of conformity, issued by the certification bodies, must include the product designation indicated below, as required by the standard:

  • name of the product;
  • reference standard (e.g. EN 124-5 for composite manhole covers);
  • load class (for example B125);
  • type of material (for example C2 for composite material);
  • section number of the standard EN 124:2015 of reference for the cover or frame (number 5/5 indicates that the cover and frame are in composite material). Conformity of covers and frames made with two different materials is accepted as long as the requirements of EN124:2015 are met (for example composite covers and cast iron frames);
  •  clear opening in mm (DP);
  • type of securing method (for example with closure F);
  • skid resistance (for example raised pattern RP).

In order to certify a manhole cover, it must pass and comply with the tests laid down in EN 124:2015 part 1 as well as the part of the standard referring to the material it is made of.

The tests must be carried out by an internationally recognised certification body and listed in the certificate of conformity.

 

Composite manhole covers                           KIO cover certification