FTC Asked to Require Fire Warnings on Upholstered Furniture

Furniture World Magazine

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was asked to force furniture manufacturers and retailers to alert consumers that the polyurethane foam in most upholstered furniture poses the most serious fire hazard found in American homes. In a petition submitted today by two fire service organizations, the FTC was asked to require furniture makers and retailers to provide its customers with the same warning label that furniture producers receive from polyurethane manufacturers but that currently is not passed along to consumers. The labels vary according to manufacturer, but an example contained in the petition warns that "Polyurethane Foam Can Burn! In case of fire, serious personal injury or death can result from extreme heat, rapid oxygen depletion and the production of toxic gases. " The label goes on to urge that the explicit warning be shared with the public. The petition also was submitted today to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is now in its sixth year of deciding whether it will require upholstered furniture to meet flammability standards. According to the Commission's own statistics, more people die in fires involving upholstered furniture Furniture flammability standards in effect for more than 20 years in California have resulted in a substantial reduction in the state's fire deaths where upholstered furniture was the first item ignited. Furniture makers have managed to block similar restrictions both nationally and in other states. The petition was submitted by the National Association of State Fire Marshals and the International Association of Fire Fighters, AFL-CIO-CLC. Donald P. Bliss, New Hampshire State Fire Marshal and a spokesman for the group, said, "The national fire data we cite seriously understates this hazard because it looks only at the item first ignited, -Whether upholstered furniture is the first or fifth item ignited, it turns small fires into large fires very quickly. When you take into account its contribution to fuel load, almost every fire death in an American home can be attributed to upholstered furniture burning." "When polyurethane foam bums," Bliss explained, "it rapidly emits large quantities of deadly gases and tremendous heat. A fire involving a single upholstered chair can become deadly so fast that a working smoke detector in an adjoining hallway might not activate in time to alert family members in upstairs bedrooms." According to Bliss, "Explicit warning labels are the very least we can provide for American families until the industry chooses or is forced to Spend a few dollars a chair to make its products safer."