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Calif. wants tough standards

Bureau proposes hour-long mattress burn test

By David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 2, 2003

North Highlands, Calif. — Open-flame mattress flammability standards developed by the California Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation propose a tough, hour-long burn test.

The peak heat release rate of the tested product is placed at a conservative 150 kilowatts at any time during the test, the bureau said. The total heat release may not exceed 25 megajoules in the first 10 minutes of the test, according to the bureau.

If either of those standards is exceeded, the mattress, futon or mattress and box spring set fails the test.

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

Those are some of the key components of the proposed standards released by the bureau this week. Those standards are now subject to a review period and are to be made final later this year.

A new open-flame bedding flammability law goes into effect in California on Jan. 1, 2004. It will be the toughest such standard in the country and could become, in effect, a national standard for U.S. mattress producers to follow.

Bedding producers and suppliers have been waiting for the release of the proposed standards since last fall. Their long wait ended last week, when the bureau put the standards online.

The proposed standards were placed on the bureau's new Web site at www.bhfti.ca.gov/. The standards were developed in connection with Assembly Bill 603. Look for the "AB 603" link on the bureau's home page and click on it to find a link to the "technical standard."

The proposed standards are 28 pages long.

Other links provide information on "proposed regulatory language," an "Initial Statement of Reasons" for the regulations, and a "Notice of Proposed Action" with public hearing dates.

The bureau's old Web address, www.dca.ca.gov/bhfti/, will automatically link to its new address.

The proposed standards are now subject to public comment. Two hearings have been set. The first is at 10 a.m. April 22 in the Edmund G. Brown Building, 505 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. The second is at 10 a.m. April 24 in the South Coast Air Quality Management District, 21865 E. Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, Calif.

In its proposal, the bureau set the duration of the flammability test for one hour unless flashover — when everything in the room bursts into flame — appears inevitable or the product self-extinguishes before the hour is up.

It said the one-hour test duration is needed "to provide an increased time for occupant recognition of a fire and for escape."

The Bureau said it set "a conservative maximum heat release rate of 150 kilowatts" in order "to minimize the probability of rapid-fire progression and flashover that can be generated by the mattress set" and surrounding materials.

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