Though not specific to FLMP, this week's Wall Street Journal had an article on the toughening of fireproofing standards for mattresses and furniture.
New Push to Make Furniture More Fireproof
Government to Propose Toughening Standards for Sofas, Mattresses; Industry Warns of Price Rises
By CHERYL LU-LIEN TAN
February 16, 2006; Page D1
The government is considering tighter regulation of how flame-proof sofas and mattresses should be, a move that could lead to higher furniture prices.
Today, the Consumer Products Safety Commission is expected to vote on proposed regulations on mattresses, and next week, it is scheduled to hold a public meeting to discuss similar rules on upholstered furniture such as chairs and sofas.
Since 1973, the agency has had standards governing how resistant to lighted cigarettes mattresses should be, but the new rules would require mattresses to be subject to tests involving an open flame. The agency would be regulating the flammability of sofas and other furniture for the first time, although the home-furnishings industry has adhered to voluntary standards on flame resistance since 1979.
Some manufacturers say the tighter rules are unnecessary, and tests with cigarettes are sufficient. Smoldering cigarettes account for 80% of fire deaths associated with upholstered furniture, according to the consumer-products agency. Just 55% of fire deaths associated with mattresses are started by cigarettes. (Candles, lighters or other open flames are to blame for the rest.) Furniture- and mattress-related fires have generally fallen in the past two decades amid a drop in smoking and more use of smoke detectors.
"You have a better chance of being struck by lightning twice than being burned to death by furniture," says Edward Tashjian, spokesman for Century Furniture, which makes sofas and chairs.
SAFER SOFAS
New rules would subject mattresses to a test involving open flames. Currently they are tested with cigarettes.
• About 80% of fire deaths associated with upholstered furniture are started by cigarettes, says the Consumer Products Safety Commission.
• About 55% of fire deaths associated with mattresses are started by cigarettes.
• Furniture-related fires fell 7.5% from 1999 to 2002, but deaths from the blazes rose almost 7%.
But the CPSC says deaths resulting from furniture-related blazes increased almost 7% to 460 between 1999 and 2002. "It's a significant number of addressable deaths," says commission chairman Hal Stratton. "We deal with a lot of products and a lot of situations where the accidents are behavior-oriented, such as bicycle accidents, and there's nothing we can do. On these, we believe something can be done to prevent them."
Manufacturers say the new requirements could tack on extra costs for consumers. Tim Oakhill, senior vice president of Simmons Bedding Co., estimates that the cost of the new testing, along with changes in materials, will add as much as $100 to prices of mattresses in stores. Furniture makers estimate that shoppers could see prices of sofas and chairs increase by at least $50 to $100.
Many mattresses and sofas are stuffed with polyurethane foam, a petroleum-based filling, but its flame resistance varies, and manufacturers may seek out foam that's more flame-resistant or coat upholstery fabrics with chemicals that make fabric less likely to ignite. Century's Mr. Tashjian says one option being discussed is to insert a flame-resistant layer between a chair's upholstery and its stuffing. But, he says, "you could get a crunchy feeling when you sit down on it."
Andy Counts, CEO of the American Home Furnishings Alliance, says consumers may be put off by how fire-treated fabrics may feel. "When you treat fabrics, they can lose the softness of hand."
If the new mattress regulations are approved today, they will go into effect July 2007. All mattresses sold in the U.S. would have to pass a test that involves lighting a mattress with two burners and letting it burn for 30 minutes. During that time, the size of the flame and the amount of heat released couldn't exceed a set standard. California, which requires mattresses sold within its borders to be resistant to open flames, has a similar testing system. About 25% of mattresses currently produced in the U.S. comply with the California code, the CPSC says.
Currently, mattresses sold in the U.S. outside of California have to pass a test that involves placing 18 cigarettes on a mattress that's half-covered with a bedsheet. The length of the char-marks left by the cigarettes can't extend more than two inches in any direction. The agency is working out the specifics of the cigarette and open-flame tests it seeks to impose upon sofa makers.
Some furniture shoppers say they don't look for flame resistance when they shop. Susan George, a director of a technology marketing firm in San Francisco, says she "didn't even think twice" about flame resistance when she recently bought two upholstered chairs for her living room. She says, "I'd prefer not to sacrifice on comfort or style."
Jennifer Chaplin, a Tulsa, Okla., homemaker, says she welcomes the new regulations. Two years ago, a fire that began when a space-heater overheated and set her sheets and mattress aflame spread through the bedroom. No one was home. But "I just keep thinking, 'What if a child had been lying in the bed and it caught fire like that,'" she says.
Write to Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan at cheryl.tan@wsj.com1 |
