Summary of CPSC rules regarding flammability of furniture

1. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Overview of the Commission’s Recent Activities on
Furniture Flammability Rulemaking*
April 25, 2013
CPSC Upholstered Furniture Fire Safety Technology Meeting
5 Research Place, Rockville, MD
For further information contact
Rik Khanna, Project Manager
301-987-2058 rkhanna@cpsc.gov
* This information was prepared by the CPSC staff; it has not be been reviewed or approved by, and does not necessarily represent the
views of, the Commission.

2. Upholstered Furniture Fire Risk
 National fire loss estimates (2008-2010) reported
upholstered furniture as first item ignited in
estimated annual average of 5,300 residential fires
attended by fire services during that period.
 Fires resulted in estimated average of 450 deaths,
810 injuries, and $309 million in property loss each
year.
 Once furniture ignites, it contains enough fuel that
fire can spread very quickly once upholstery filling
materials start to burn.

3. CPSC Proposed Rule
 NPR published in March 2008
□ 73 Fed. Reg. 11702 (March 4, 2008)
 Objectives:
□ Address standard’s target risk: smoldering ignited
fires that cause most addressable fire deaths and
injuries
□ Prevent transition from smoldering to flaming
combustion
□ Minimize reliance on FR chemical additives in
fabrics and filling materials
□ Reduce fire risk at reasonable cost

4. Summary of NPR Objectives
 Proposed Standard establishes 2 possible
approaches
 Furniture can have either:
□ Upholstery cover material that complies with the
prescribed smoldering ignition test ( “Type I” furniture); or
□ Interior fire barrier that complies with specified smoldering
and small open-flame ignition tests (“Type II” furniture).
 Does not rely on FR additives to achieve
compliance

5. Post – NPR Technical Work
 Validation Test Program – Bench and Full-
Scale
□ Smoldering Ignition
□ Open-Flame Ignition
 Standard Reference Foam Development
□ Reduce Variability

6. Validation Tests
 Conducted with Type I cover fabrics and
Type II fire barriers that met criteria of
proposed standard in bench-scale testing
 Bench-scale tests used same materials as
full-scale tests; no standard foam or fabric
was used
 Smoldering and open-flame ignition
source tests were conducted.

7. Smoldering Ignition Tests: Bench-Scale
 Materials in bench-scale tests did not behave
as previously observed.
 Cover fabrics did not show difference in
smoldering as expected.
 Presence of fire barrier did not show a
practical difference in smoldering of
underlying foam.
 Foam seemed to be different than previously
purchased foam, potentially affecting results.
□ Revealed need for an SRM foam.

8. Smoldering Ignition Tests: Full-Scale
 Chairs constructed of same materials as
bench-scale tests.
 Fire barriers expected to inhibit smoldering
ignition of internal foam.
 Fire barriers did not consistently protect
against smoldering ignitions.
□ Chairs constructed with fire barriers
demonstrated considerable amount of
smoldering.

9. Example of Smoldering Ignition Tests
Without Barrier
Non-FR Foam
With Barrier
Non-FR Foam

10. Open-Flame Ignition Tests:
Bench- and Full-Scale
 Bench-scale tests showed fire barriers
able to delay ignition of foam, as
previously observed.
 Full-scale tests showed that fire barriers
were successful in reducing fire severity.

11. Example of Open-Flame Ignition Tests
Without Barrier
Non-FR foam
@ 4 minutes
Without Barrier
FR foam
@ 4 minutes
With Barrier
Non-FR foam
@ 4 minutes
With Barrier
FR foam
@ 4 minutes

12. Validation Tests - Conclusions
 Bench-scale performance behavior in both
scales should be similar qualitatively.
 Smoldering ignition bench-scale performance
did not demonstrate adequate prediction of
real furniture flammability performance for
Type I and Type II chairs, in this test series.
 Open-flame ignition, bench-scale qualification
tests for fire barriers (Type II) results in
improvement in full-scale fire performance.

13. Standard Test Materials
 Objective: maximize repeatability, minimize
variability of test results
 SRM 1196 cigarette incorporated into
mattress rule (16 CFR Part 1632) in 2011
 SRM foam characterization in 2012

14. Ongoing Work
 Conduct further testing with standard
materials
 Engage ASTM E05 on potential revisions to
ASTM E1353
 Monitor revisions to California TB-117
 Issued CPSC Federal Register notice and
host Furniture Fire Safety Technology
Meeting

15. Furniture Fire Safety Technology Meeting
and Request for Comments
 April 25 - Fire Safety Technology Meeting
□ Focus on current technologies and anticipated progress
on future fire barrier technologies and other options to
reduce the fire hazard posed by residential upholstered
furniture.
□ http://www.cpsc.gov/cgi-bin/epi/epifurnituremtg.aspx
 Request for Comments
□ Invite interested parties to submit comments related to
the meeting or possible change in regulatory approach
using fire barriers
□ Comments due July 1, 2013

16. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Overview of the Commission’s Recent Activities on
Furniture Flammability Rulemaking*
April 25, 2013
CPSC Upholstered Furniture Fire Safety Technology Meeting
5 Research Place, Rockville, MD
For further information contact
Rik Khanna, Project Manager
301-987-2058 rkhanna@cpsc.gov
* This information was prepared by the CPSC staff; it has not be been reviewed or approved by, and does not necessarily represent the
views of, the Commission.