Fire safety of Upholstered Furniture

In 1988 the UK government introduced regulations controlling the ignitability and flammability of upholstered furniture.
This followed intense media coverage of fatal fires and campaigning by the fire service.

The regulations required furniture to be resistant to ignition by cigarettes and matches and also banned the use of standard polyurethane foam and fillings presenting a similar risk.

There have been several scientific and technical assessments of the benefits of the regulations and all have been very supportive.

Thanks to the detailed and comprehensive fire statistics collated by the UK authorities it is possible to make some simple and direct comparisons of the situation in 1988 and 2005, the most recent statistics.

In 1988 there were 4,800 dwelling fires involving upholstered furniture in the UK. These fires claimed 245 lives and caused 1891 injuries.
In 2005 there were 1417 dwelling fires involving upholstered furniture in the UK. These fires claimed 50 lives and caused 569 injuries.

One can only wonder how many of these lives were saved by the ignition resistance requirements preventing fires or by the flammability constraints slowing the fires down and allowing people time to escape. It is probable that the wider use of smoke alarms may also have aided early detection of some fires which the occupier might have extinguished and consequently were not reported to the fire brigade.
However, the improvement is of major dimensions and it is clear to experienced fire officers that this has resulted from the manufacture of safer furniture.

At present the European Commission is considering a French notification to improve the fire safety of upholstered furniture. We hope they will recognise the potential benefits for European consumers of controls similar to those in the UK and Ireland.

For more information on the fire safety of Upholstered furniture, please see:
www.acfse.org