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Calif. regulator: Jan. 1 fire rules date 'not negotiable'

By David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 9, 2003

Las Vegas — A top California regulator told members of the futon industry last week that new open-flame mattress and futon standards will go into effect, as planned, on Jan. 1, 2004.

"The date is not negotiable," said Lynn Morris, chief of the California Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation.

She said in an interview with Furniture/Today that only two things could change the date: a change in the legislative mandate, or court action.

Morris and John McCormack, the bureau's manager of research and development, were featured speakers at a flammability workshop here during the Futon and Specialty Sleep Expo. They fielded questions from the audience at the session.

Asked if California is moving too swiftly on implementing its tough new open-flame mattress flammability standards, Morris said, "We don't get to answer that." The deadline has been set, she said.

But Morris did say the state bureau needs to hear "very specific data on where the standards aren't reasonable." She said the agency has the ability "to make changes in the regulatory process," but noted the changes "must be very specifically justified."

The bureau is seeking public comment on the proposed standards, which won't be finalized until later this year.

The agency is proposing a one-hour burn test of mattresses, futons, and mattress and box spring sets. During the test, the peak heat release rate is set at a conservative 150 kilowatts. If a product exceeds that level at any time during the test, it fails.

The test will be administered using a dual-flame burner developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Morris, who toured the futon show with McCormack and talked to various exhibitors before her presentation, said she heard three things from the futon industry:

Its members are willing to do what they are told to do by the state.
They want to be told clearly and in plain English what they are to do.
They "will be OK if we make everyone do the same thing." She said the bureau is "incredibly sensitive to making a level playing field."

Morris said the proposed standards are based on "good science."

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

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