Flare Product Research

At Orion, not only do we engineer and manufacture emergency flares and other safety and signaling products to the highest level of quality, we subject our products to independent testing and evaluation by respected outside organizations.

Imanna Laboratory

Orion marine visual distress signals are United States Coast Guard approved. As such, all Orion marine signals are tested quarterly by an independent USCG approved lab to the specifications provided by CFR 46, Part 160. The battery of tests the signals must successfully complete includes operational, elevated temperature, humidity, and storage tests.

Underwriters Lab

Orion highway and railway flares are manufactured to the UL 912 specification. Orion regularly tests the flares for compliance with UL 912 and undergoes unscheduled UL audits with live testing of randomly selected product throughout the year.

University study on emergency road flare effectiveness in enhancing the “safety zone.”

An independent study conducted in 2005 by the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, an independent research unit of Penn State University’s College of Engineering, concluded that emergency roadside flares improve the safety of everyone involved at a traffic accident scene by dramatically increasing the safety zone:

• Right lane traffic is reduced by nearly 90%, creating better visibility around the emergency scene and expanding the width of the safety zone.
• The vehicular distance from the shoulder (e.g., the lateral separation from the disabled vehicle) is increased by more than 85%. The flares are highly effective at moving passing traffic farther from the emergency scene.
• The speed of passing traffic is lower by over 16%. The flares enable other drivers to notice the emergency ahead, thus increasing the braking distance and expanding the depth of the safety zone.

More details on this groundbreaking research are available here:

• Penn State Study: Safety Bulletin and Summary Sheet
• Penn State Study: Complete Study Results

Chimfex® Fire Suppressants Product Research

Chimfex® is designed to be the “first line of defense” for controlling chimney fires. Independent product research by OMNI Environmental Services shows:

• Chimfex® suppresses chimney fires in an average time of just 22 seconds.
• The chimney’s temperature drops by 53% within two minutes.
• Oxygen levels drop an average of 43% within two minutes.