Dow’s UK Auditor Chris Fletcher discusses the Dow Quality Bond Scheme and what it means for specifiers, fabricators, and installers.

With construction industry standards continuing to come under heavy scrutiny, schemes that actively promote quality control and high standards have never been more valuable for architects and specifiers. Here, we speak to Chris Fletcher, Auditor on behalf of Dow, about the Dow Quality Bond Scheme, and what can be done to reach the highest levels of quality assurance.

Could you start by explaining what Dow Quality Bond is?
Quality Bond is a glazing-specific certification from Dow that demonstrates a company’s commitment to upholding the highest standards in quality control, quality assurance and specialist product application. Focused on using silicone sealants for structural glazing, insulating glazing, panel bonding and other silicone-based bonding and sealing applications, the scheme is aimed at high-performance applications and can be obtained by fabricators.

How does Quality Bond help architects?
Put simply, a company with Dow Quality Bond membership is operating to the highest industry standards. By working with Quality Bond members on a project, architects are minimising the chance for accidents, mistakes or unforeseen issues with any glazed units specified. As glazing plays such an important role in modern high-performance building design, working with a Quality Bond member, or specifying a unit with the mark, is great for providing peace of mind that the glazing fabricator you are working with upholds the highest standards.

What does a fabricator or installer have to do to get quality bond membership?
Firstly, they must be using Dow products. As the global market leader of silicone glazing products, Dow is ubiquitous across the construction industry, so this isn’t hard to achieve. Next, they can express interest in the scheme by speaking to their sales representative before organising an audit and paying a small fee.

Once membership has been attained the company can use our mark on their products for 14 months before they need to be reassessed. As a result, any architect who sees our mark can be sure that the company bearing it has been recently audited and is up to date with the latest standards.

What is it you are looking for during the audits?
Quality assurance is as much about proof as it is about process. As a result, we are looking at three different areas when we audit a company. The first aspect is the product choice and application process. From my perspective, this is straightforward because every fabricator, upon submitting a sample of their substrate to Dow, receives recommendation of suitability of their product choice with their substrate, as well as application instructions for cleaning and any necessary priming.

The second area we audit is the methods used for testing the silicone. There are four tests that fabricators will carry out daily to ensure their machinery is running properly and their mixing ratios are correct, we need to see these being done correctly and inspect the results.

The final area we audit is the documentation process. To provide quality assurance, a fabricator must be able to show a trail of evidence that shows due process has been followed. This means logging the results of daily testing and maintenance as well as keeping a record of where each glazed unit was later installed.

Do you think the Dow Quality Bond scheme is having a positive impact on the construction industry?
Yes absolutely. The scheme not only raises standards, it also ensures architects and specifiers can easily identify the best fabricators and installers. It also gives members recognition for the quality of their work. What’s more, because of the low cost of membership, any company, regardless of size can apply for membership and reap the benefits of having the quality of their work recognised and certified.

Contact Details
To learn more about Dow Quality Bond and to find out about the scheme’s members in the UK, please click here.