BWF members such as yourselves frequently use our Member and Technical Helplines for assistance on a wide range of Employment, Health and Safety, Contractual and Technical issues. We’re putting up a frequently asked question every Tuesday in order to help members and illustrate the type of advice we are able to provide. If you have any questions that you would like to see featured, we would be happy to assist. This question and many others like it can be found in our Question Centre. If you want further advice on any of the issues, don’t hesitate to ring the helpline or browse our extensive publications library, which includes our information on Installation, Building Regulations and Maintenance. This week: What product care instructions should I supply to my customers? Once a product leaves the factory gate is that the end of your responsibility? Our technical experts frequently encounter customers of BWF members who ask about the care of joinery products as they feel that the member needs to provide this information automatically when dispatching the product. The function and durability of a product depend on many factors. These can range from the sustainable sourcing of the raw material through the quality of production and manufacture, followed by the care of delivery and storage on site. Other important aspects that continue this process are the way the installation of the product is carried out and the maintenance details and schedules set in train. The British Standard 644 for fully finished factory-assembled windows recommends that the manufacturer shall provide guidance on the installation, use, cleaning, maintenance, handling and storage of timber windows. More specifically guidance on the installation of windows and doorsets is given in BS 8213-4 Windows, Doors and Rooflights – Code of practice for the survey and installation of windows and external doorsets. There are also many BWF Guides available on our website which give extra details such as the ‘Care of timber doors on site‘ (Guide 12) and ‘Timber variability vs performance‘ (Guide 17). Under the fire door section of the BWF website there is a Fact Card 12 ‘Who Was To Blame? Not me!’ Although a customer may not look after a product adequately (perhaps not looking after it on site or through poor installation or maintenance and then try to retrieve recompense from a BWF member, it would help customer relations (and protection of the product) if as much information is provided when the product is sold. Have you reviewed your product literature recently and how you pass that onto your valuable customers?