Industry backs FR uph. plan
By Susan M. Andrews -- Furniture Today, March 7, 2004
WASHINGTON — A coalition of textile producers proposed an upholstered furniture flammability standard to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission last week, hoping to resolve an issue that has dogged the industry for 10 years.
The proposal would let untreated fabrics be used over a fire-resistant barrier material, or would allow fabric to be backcoated to achieve compliance.
David Petty, director of product development at Quaker Fabric, made the presentation for the group.
"The meeting was very encouraging," Petty said, "because most of the folks in the supply chain — including the fabric mills, the furniture manufacturers, the foam producers, even the fire marshals and the Underwriters Lab — seem to be on board with this proposal."
He added that the group hopes to answer all the CPSC's questions on its proposal by mid-April so the commission can vote on it. He said the CPSC has three options: doing nothing, accepting the coalition's proposal, or passing a stricter standard the coalition deems unacceptable.
"The meeting was viewed as our first opportunity to get a fairly complete story to the staff at the CPSC," said Hardy Poole, director of regulatory and technical affairs for National Textile Assn., a trade group that is one of the endorsers of the proposal.
The proposal grew out of a meeting last June of executives from Craftex, Culp, Joan, Quaker Fabric, Sunbury and Weave.
David Ryan, director of quality at Craftex, said the new proposal makes all players in the upholstered furniture supply chain responsible for fire safety.
"It's a workable solution that doesn't put all the burden on the fabric, but spreads it among the fabric suppliers as well as the suppliers of seat cushion core materials," he said.
Weave Corp. President Roger Berkley said an "emerging consensus of all the stakeholders is very helpful in convincing the CPSC that the proposal from the fabric coalition is a step in the right direction."
In addition to the NTA, the proposed standard has been endorsed entirely or in large part by the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, the American Furniture Manufacturers Assn., the Decorative Fabric Assn., Underwriters Laboratories, the American Petroleum Institute, the Polyurethane Foam Assn. and the National Assn. of State Fire Marshals.
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