More sparks from flammability
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, July 12, 2004
High Point — The mattress flammability issue continues to throw off sparks.
A hard-hitting CBS television report headlined "Beds are burning" cast the industry in a negative light and brought a swift response from the International Sleep Products Assn.
Meanwhile, in moves that attracted much less publicity but are potentially far-reaching, tough state mattress flammability bills were introduced in New Jersey and New York.
Both of those measures would set even stricter flammability standards than those that are now on the books in California, the first state to pass an open-flame mattress flammability law. California's law, to be enforced starting Jan. 1, says that mattresses exposed to open flames must resist ignition for 30 minutes. The bills introduced in New Jersey and New York call for a 60-minute test period.
California originally proposed the tougher standards, but state regulators modified them after bedding industry players and others said the standards were too strict.
ISPA, the bedding industry trade group, has said it opposes state initiatives.
The trade association found itself on the defensive in the wake of a CBS Evening News report last week that said millions of Americans are "at risk" of mattress fires. That story reported on California's pending law, but said: "The victory has been short lived. The industry is fighting the regulations and they are still not in effect."
The story also said that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission promises to act soon on safer mattresses.
ISPA said, in a response posted to its Web site (www.sleepproducts.org), that the story failed to note "the substantial progress" that has been made in mattress safety over the past 30 years.
Thanks to the efforts of the mattress industry and others, a federal standard guarding against cigarette ignition has helped reduce mattress fires and deaths, ISPA said. It also said it is working diligently with federal regulators on development of an effective, practical flammability standard.
The CBS story was not all negative. It singled out Serta, saying it is one producer that "has broken with the industry" and "has started making fire safe mattresses."
