UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE FIRE SAFETY RECENT FINDINGS AND REGULATIONS

摘要

Fire safety requirements for flaming ignition of upholstered furniture or its components have existed in the US (California) since 1975 (CA TB 117) and in the UK since 1988 (BS 5852); they have not changed significantly until recently. In 2013 the state of California eliminated upholstered furniture open flame ignition requirements and, in 2014, the UK started a process that involved questioning their requirements. These changes in requirements are likely to decrease fire safety and increase fire losses, since upholstered furniture fires cause a large fraction of fire fatalities, disproportionate to their fraction of overall fire incidents. Studies have long shown that making furniture in which all components fully comply with BS 5852 (typically crib 5) will result in excellent fire safety and no transition to flashover. Work has also shown that simply using polyurethane foam that meets the traditional CA TB 117 flaming test would not prevent flashover once the furniture has fully ignited. Recent studies of the effects of fires from single, small and large, upholstered furniture items have shown, once again, how rapidly a small fire can lead to flashover in a room. In particular, an example will be shown how a furniture fire can cause an entire large house to burn to the ground rapidly. It has also become clear that simply adding enough flame retardants to the padding (typically polyurethane foam) will have a significant effect on time to flashover (or even on whether the item actually ignites) and that adding enough flame retardants to both padding and fabric can result in the upholstered furniture item not even reaching flashover. Moreover, appropriately adding flame retardants to plastics has been shown to decrease heat release, the key fire hazard property. This paper shows the critical nature of fire safety requirements for flaming ignition of upholstered furniture and puts all aspects discussed above into perspective.