Share this on

Fire marshals renew call for FR regs

By Susan M. Andrews -- Furniture Today, November 5, 2006

Washington — After waiting in vain for 13 years, the National Assn. of State Fire Marshals has renewed its call for a national fire safety standard for upholstery and implored the furniture industry to "let people come before profits."

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, fires originating in upholstered furniture account for 20% of all fire-related deaths in the United States and kill an average of 10 people a week.

At a press conference here last week, John Dean, president of the fire marshals group, invited the upholstered furniture industry to join in discussions about a national standard.

"Without national furniture fire safety standards that address both cigarette and open flame ignitions, these preventable fires will continue to cause horrible deaths and injuries," Dean said.

"We aren't trying to point fingers and blame anyone," he said in an interview with Furniture/Today. "But we just decided to get together the people who have an interest in this flammability issue and get it done — and who wouldn't have an interest in reducing the number of deaths and injuries from upholstery fires?"

He said the United Kingdom "hardly ever" has a death from an upholstery fire since adopting a mandatory standard, and that California has reduced fatalities by 25% since establishing a standard in the 1970s.

"We first called for this fire safety standard 13 years ago," Dean said. "They (the CPSC) assured us it would get done and it didn't get done — so we finally decided we had to make people aware that the sofa or chair in their living room is the equivalent of sitting on a bag of gasoline.

"Once it's ignited, you have a raging fire very quickly. A smoke alarm helps, but this petroleum-based foam creates thick, black, toxic smoke that can overpower you very quickly, especially among our aging population that can't move as quickly as they could," he said.

The American Home Furnishings Alliance issued a response saying the industry has "made great strides in reducing the flammability risks associated with its products," and said it supports the Upholstered Furniture Action Council program, a set of voluntary construction guidelines that most upholstered furniture makers follow.

Andy Counts, CEO of the furniture manufacturers and importers group, said the AHFA "encourages the Consumer Product Safety Commission to adopt UFAC as a mandatory national standard."

Counts told Furniture/Today that a recent study by the University of Surrey showed that the death count reduction from the U.K.'s stringent fire safety standard "is actually only about 15% to 20%, with the vast majority of the reduction being related to smoke detectors and reduced incidence of smoking."

AHFA also maintains that U.S. upholstery fires have been reduced by 85% in the past 20 years because of compliance with UFAC, declines in cigarette use and the increased use of home smoke detectors.

Dean responded, "The UFAC voluntary standard obviously isn't working because we are still losing 10 people a week."

The AHFA letter also said the FR compounds used to treat fabrics and cushioning materials could pose health risks, but the NASFM maintains that claim is a red herring designed to stall efforts to establish a national standard.

"Of course we're concerned about the chemicals but the National Academy of Sciences, the CPSC and the EPA have studied these chemicals and assured us there are plenty of safe FR chemicals, as well as other materials that do not rely on chemicals at all," Dean said. "I just can't imagine why (the furniture industry) wants to have us sit around while they do study after study when all these other scientific organizations say FR chemicals are safe and effective."

Counts said the estimated added cost per unit, at the manufacturing level, to make upholstery flame retardant would range from $18 to $100, depending on what draft standard is accepted and on such variables as fabric choices.

Dean said he believed the cost was acceptable.

"At the press conference this morning," he said, "someone said they had just spent $150 to have their new sofa Scotchgarded and that they would happily spend more to make it flame retardant."

Share this on

Fire marshals call for upholstery FR standard

Oct 31, 2006

Also by this author

Also by Susan Andrews

Featured Company

Wright Labels

Bill and Tom Wright founded Wright of Thomasville in 1961 on the idea that printing was a creative medium and the belief that "a promise made is a promise kept." The Wright brothers focused their attention on providing exceptional printing for the... more