CPSC analysis: FR mattress standard could save over 300 lives per year
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 6, 2005
Greensboro, N.C. — A U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission staff analysis estimates that a national open-flame mattress standard could save more than 300 lives a year.
Allyson Tenney, a CPSC official, included that estimate in her presentation at a well-attended flammability workshop here hosted by the American Home Furnishings Alliance. She was one of three CPSC officials to address the workshop, which covered a wide variety of flammability issues and has become a staple on the industry's calendar each March.
She said CPSC's proposed mattress standard potentially addresses 18,500 fires annually, which cause $259.5 million in property losses, 440 deaths and 2,160 injuries. The standard could prevent an estimated 310 to 330 deaths and 1,660 to 1,780 injuries per year, she said.
In a question-and-answer session, CPSC's Dale Ray tackled the issue of when the industry actually begins saving lives with a national standard. He said the benefits of a new standard would accrue "over a long period of time," with the number of lives saved growing steadily in the years following implementation.
CPSC continues to work on its proposed mattress standard. It held a public hearing last week, receiving a number of comments. The 75-day comment period on the standard closes March 29.
Staff then will evaluate the comments and determine what actions are needed to address them.
Asked how long it will take CPSC to develop a final standard, Tenney said that depends on the nature of the comments and the staff work they require.
In her comments, she did not mention issues related to the appointment of a new CPSC commissioner. That could take months, delaying issuance of a final standard, industry observers said.
In another potentially significant development, a CPSC official said the issue of whether California can legally proceed with its new mattress flammability standard is unresolved. The state's new mattress standard went on the books Jan. 1, with California insisting it has the legal standing to proceed.
Last year, the International Sleep Products Assn. repeatedly asserted that CPSC had said California cannot legally enforce its standard.
Gib Mullan, who was CPSC's general counsel last year and is now director of CPSC's Office of Compliance, said here he had stated that California is pre-empted from moving ahead with its mattress flammability law by the existing national cigarette-ignition standard.
"California does not appear to be abiding by our opinion," he said. If the state seeks to enforce its rules, CPSC "may address the matter further," he said.
Mullan told California officials in a 2003 advisory letter that he believed California's open-flame standard would be pre-empted by the cigarette standard. But he also wrote, "The issue of whether a particular federal statute pre-empts a state regulation is one that can be decided only by the courts, not this agency."
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