How to read a security screen certificate: AS 5039, AS 5040 and AS 5041

For most of the last two decades the framework was a trio of standards, and this is still the numbering most product literature uses:

• AS 5039 — Security screen doors and security window grilles. The product itself: what it has to be made of and how it has to perform.
• AS 5040 — Installation of security screen doors and window grilles. How it has to be fitted to the building.
• AS 5041 — Methods of test. The laboratory procedures the performance requirements are actually measured by.

Standards Australia has since folded the three into parts of a single series: AS 5039.1 for manufacture, AS 5039.2 for installation and AS 5039.3 for the test methods.

The substance did not change, and you will see both numbering systems in circulation for years yet. If a certificate cites AS 5041 and a competitor cites AS 5039.3, they are pointing at the same body of testing — not at different levels of rigour. Do not let a supplier sell you the newer number as though it were a higher grade.

The two that decide most outcomes are worth knowing in detail, because they are concrete enough to compare products with.

• Knife shear. A heavy-duty trimming knife is drawn along a 250 mm line on the mesh, at 150 N of force vertically and up to 350 N horizontally. It answers the obvious question: can someone simply cut their way in?
• Dynamic impact. A 36–46 kg impact bag is swung into the panel, delivering 100 joules, five times over. This is the kicked-in-door test, and it tests the whole assembly — mesh, frame, fixings and lock together, not just the mesh.
• Alongside those sit pull, jemmy and probe tests aimed at the frame and the locking system.
• Testing has to be done by an accredited laboratory. "Made to Australian Standards" is a sentence anyone can type; a test report from a NATA-accredited lab is not.

The installation standard is the one almost no buyer asks about, and it is the one most likely to be the weak point. The impact test measures a panel anchored to a test rig exactly as the standard requires. A screen fixed to a rotten jamb with the wrong fasteners does not inherit that result — it just carries the certificate.

This is the practical reason security screens are sold measured-and-fitted rather than off a shelf, and the reason it is fair to ask an installer how the screen will be fixed and to what.

AS 3959 governs construction in bushfire-prone areas and grades exposure as a Bushfire Attack Level, from BAL-LOW up to BAL-FZ (flame zone). Screens are rated within that system, and a security rating tells you nothing about a bushfire rating or the reverse.

ScreenGuard is rated to BAL 40 — the highest level short of flame zone. If you are building or rebuilding in a designated bushfire-prone area, your BAL rating is set by an assessment of the site, and it dictates what you are permitted to install.

None of these are unreasonable, and any manufacturer that has done the work will answer all three without hesitating.

• Can I see the test report, from the accredited laboratory, for this system?
• What grade is the mesh — and does the certificate cover the exact configuration you are quoting me, including the lock?
• How will it be installed, and to what part of the building?
• For reference: ScreenGuard is tested to AS 5039, AS 5041 and AS 3959, exceeds the impact requirement at 200 joules against the standard’s 100, and carries a 10-year warranty from installation.

• 316 vs 304: what "marine-grade" stainless steel mesh actually means
• How to clean a security screen door without wrecking it

ScreenGuard screens are custom-made and fitted by licensed suppliers around Australia. Tell us about your openings and your local supplier will measure, quote and install.