BS EN 13204:2025 - Powered Rescue Tools for Fire and Rescue Service Use

Standard Number: BS EN 13204:2025

Release Date: April 30, 2025

ISBN: 978 0 539 18978 0

Status: Standard

Pages: 82

Overview

The BS EN 13204:2025 is an essential standard for professionals in the fire and rescue services. This comprehensive document outlines the safety and performance requirements for powered rescue tools, ensuring that these critical tools meet the highest standards of reliability and effectiveness. With the increasing complexity of rescue operations, having a standardized guideline is crucial for ensuring the safety of both rescuers and those they are saving.

Key Features

• Comprehensive Coverage: Spanning 82 pages, this standard provides an in-depth look at the requirements for powered rescue tools, covering everything from design specifications to performance criteria.
• Safety First: Safety is at the forefront of this standard, ensuring that all tools meet rigorous safety requirements to protect both the operators and the victims during rescue operations.
• Performance Requirements: The standard sets out clear performance benchmarks that tools must meet, ensuring they are capable of performing under the demanding conditions of rescue operations.
• Up-to-Date Information: Released in 2025, this standard reflects the latest advancements and best practices in the field of rescue operations.

Why This Standard is Important

In the high-stakes world of fire and rescue services, the tools used can mean the difference between life and death. The BS EN 13204:2025 standard ensures that powered rescue tools are not only effective but also safe to use. By adhering to this standard, manufacturers can guarantee that their products are reliable and meet the needs of emergency responders.

For fire and rescue services, having tools that comply with this standard means they can operate with confidence, knowing their equipment will perform as expected in critical situations. This standard also helps in maintaining consistency across different rescue teams, ensuring that all teams have access to tools that meet the same high standards.

Who Should Use This Standard?

This standard is indispensable for:

• Manufacturers: Companies that produce powered rescue tools will find this standard crucial for ensuring their products meet industry requirements.
• Fire and Rescue Services: These organizations can use the standard to evaluate and select the best tools for their operations, ensuring safety and performance.
• Regulatory Bodies: Agencies responsible for setting and enforcing safety standards will use this document to guide their policies and inspections.

Conclusion

The BS EN 13204:2025 standard is a vital resource for anyone involved in the design, manufacture, or use of powered rescue tools. By setting clear safety and performance requirements, it ensures that these tools are up to the task of saving lives in the most challenging conditions. Whether you are a manufacturer looking to certify your products or a rescue service seeking the best equipment, this standard provides the guidance you need to make informed decisions.

Investing in tools that comply with the BS EN 13204:2025 standard is an investment in safety, reliability, and performance. Ensure your rescue operations are equipped with the best tools available by adhering to this comprehensive and up-to-date standard.

BS EN 13204:2025

This standard BS EN 13204:2025 Powered rescue tools for fire and rescue service use. Safety and performance requirements is classified in these ICS categories:

• 13.220.10 Fire-fighting
• 11.160 First aid

This document specifies safety and performance requirements for powered rescue tools manufactured after the date of publication. This document is applicable to powered rescue tools which are intended for use by the firefighting and rescue services, principally for cutting, crushing, spreading, squeezing, pushing or pulling the structural parts of road vehicles, ships, trains, aircraft and building structures involved in accidents. This document is not applicable to hydraulic power packs covered by 2000/14/EC. Powered rescue tools consist of tool(s) and the necessary system components (e.g. energy source, drive system and prime mover) and intended accessories, as defined in Clause 3. This document deals with all significant hazards, hazardous situations or hazardous events relevant to the machinery, when it is used as intended and under conditions or misuse which are reasonably foreseeable by the manufacturer. NOTE 1 The aim of powered rescue tools is to assist the firefighting and rescue services while extracting the casualties or to create a working space for paramedical services taking the local conditions into account. This document does not include: - tools with pneumatic drive systems or pneumatic energy sources; - tools which are single acting (for example spring /gravity return jacks, powered struts, etc.). It is not applicable to additional requirements for: a) operation in severe conditions (e.g. extreme environmental conditions such as temperatures outside the range –20 °C and +55 °C, corrosive environment, tropical environment, contaminating environments, strong magnetic fields, potentially explosive atmospheres, underwater use); b) the risk directly arising from the means provided for the portability, transportability, mobility and decommissioning of powered rescue tools during periods of their operation; c) generic tools such as, but not limited to, powered drills, angle grinders, saws, not solely intended for extrication purposes; d) tools intended to lift and/or hoist, not solely intended for extrication purposes. NOTE 2 EN 13731:2007 deals with lifting bag systems for fire and rescue services. NOTE 3 For the EU/EEA other Directives can be applicable to the equipment in the scope, for example the Electro Magnetic Compatibility Directive.