AFMA, ISPA: Hollings bill not needed
Gary Evans and David Perry -- Furniture Today, November 10, 2003
High Point — Executives with furniture and bedding trade associations said a bill recently introduced in Congress calling for speedy enactment of flammability standards isn't needed.
Andy Counts, chief executive officer of the American Furniture Manufacturers Assn., and Dick Doyle, president of the International Sleep Products Assn., said the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is already hard at work on those issues.
They were reacting to the American Home Fire Safety Act, introduced by Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C. It calls for the CPSC to set flammability standards for upholstered furniture, mattresses, candles and bedding.
Counts said AFMA has been aware of the bill for some time and has been "working vigorously" with CPSC and other stakeholders to address concerns and head off other legislation.
"When the bill came out we were disappointed to see that," he said. "We don't feel this is a productive bill knowing that the CPSC is doing everything it can to address this issue."
The AFMA supports a national standard proposed three weeks ago by the CPSC that addresses both cigarette ignition and small open fires caused by candles, matches and cigarette lighters. AFMA took the position that the new federal standards are preferred to requirements that could vary from state to state. Members of the CPSC voted 3–0 to move the proposals along in the legislative process.
Counts said the industry is making strides in furniture safety.
"I think we have everyone on the same page as far as what our objectives are," he said. "In the past, some stakeholders thought we could make flameproof furniture, which is not the case. I think everyone recognizes the technical limitations to that." He said the CPSC is taking a "more reasonable approach to trying to make a safer piece of furniture so we can get something in place in the not-too-distant future."
The National Assn. of State Fire Marshals is pushing the Hollings bill as an effective way to prevent fire deaths. The Hollings bill suggests national standards that are "substantially the same" as standards in California, which the fire marshals group endorses.
"We are confident with the science that was used to develop these standards. California has demonstrated that it's very progressively put a lot of work in developing its standards and NASFM is comfortable with using those standards," a spokesperson said. "At the end of the day, if the commission can come up with a standard that is suitable to all, then safety is served. If they can't, legislation is the necessary route."
ISPA's Doyle said the Hollings bill "is not necessary. CPSC is moving ahead very effectively with the development of its new flammability standard for mattresses and that makes any kind of congressional action in this area unnecessary."
Doyle also said it's best for CPSC, and not the Congress, to establish flammability standards.
"Once you get something that is regulated by legislation, it makes it very difficult to make any modifications to it in the future — it does take an act of Congress," he said.
"We feel as the science continues to evolve there may be modifications needed in the future. And as a result it is most appropriate for CPSC, not Congress, to actually set the standards."
Doyle also noted that the Hollings bill proposes using an early draft of California's proposed mattress flammability rules and not the revised standard, which he called "a more appropriate standard to address public safety and also not overly burden the industry in the process."
