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ISPA challenges flame proposal

By David Perry -- Furniture Today, April 13, 2003

Alexandria, Va. — The president of the International Sleep Products Assn. is challenging California's proposed open-flame mattress flammability standards.

ISPA President Richard Doyle asserts in a letter to a top California regulator that the proposed standards are not reasonable and could not be met in a way to produce beds that are both comfortable and affordable.

Noting the final rules might not be issued until November, with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2004, Doyle said "it is inconceivable" to expect the industry to make major changes to its products in such a short time.

He made his comments in a letter to Lynn Morris, chief of the California Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation, which in February proposed tough open-flame mattress standards. His letter is dated March 19, one day after Morris said at a well-attended flammability workshop she felt the proposed standards were reasonable.

ISPA officials will be meeting with bureau officials to further discuss their concerns. Furniture/Today obtained a copy of Doyle's letter, which ISPA did not release to the press.

In the letter, Doyle notes the industry has "a long and rich history of working cooperatively" with the bureau, and wants to continue in that tradition "to make meaningful and practical improvements in residential fire safety."

But he said ISPA "respectfully submits that proposed TB 603 (California Technical Bulletin 603 on mattress flammability) falls short of the reasonable objectives ... in several critical respects."

The proposed pass/fail criteria are "unrealistically restrictive," Doyle said. "Based on the industry's fire laboratory tests to date, we believe requiring that the maximum rate of heat release not exceed 150 kilowatts over a 60-minute period cannot be achieved using the current state-of-the-art processes and materials in a manner that would allow manufacturers to produce mattresses that are both comfortable and affordable."

Doyle also said the bedding industry "takes strong exception" to the proposed effective date of Jan. 1, 2004, saying that product changes could not be made in such a short time.

Doyle used much of the three-page letter reviewing the industry's "distinguished history of product safety achievements."

In her comments last month, Morris said feedback suggests that the California proposals are reasonable. She said the industry needs to share specific information that suggests otherwise. "Send us data, not lobbyists," Morris said.

Public hearings on the proposed standards are set for San Francisco and the Los Angeles area this month.

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