TV fires - still a danger to European Consumers

For over 10 years ACFSE has been highlighting the fire risk presented by flammable TV enclosures. Rene Hagen of NIBRA in the Netherlands initially raised concerns following fires caused by tea lights igniting the casings of televisions.

Following media coverage the UK DTI commissioned a study which concluded that European televisions could be set on fire by low energy sources such as tea lights whilst in Japan and the USA the use of V0 flame retarded plastics prevented this happening.Public demonstrations were carried out, most notably by the Berlin Fire Chief Albrecht Broemme, showing how a TV fire started in this way can lead to the entire contents of the room burning (flashover) in just a few minutes. SP Sweden’s fire test laboratory reported that a TV can be equivalent to 4.5 litres of petrol if allowed to burn.

A private demonstration to Philips in the Nederlands resulted in them immediately committing to the use of flame retarded plastics for their brand. Look for the label!

Sony and Panasonic joined a voluntary agreement to use similar materials for their CRT televisions. However the majority of manufacturers supplying the European market remain resistant to the idea of providing televisions as safe as those they supply to the US markets.
The technical committee, TC108, responsible for the European Standard covering televisions have finalised a specification which when introduced into the standard could go some way to resolving the problem. However the IEC recommended that this should only become obligatory 8 years after publication. I presented the ACFSE case to Member States experts at their meeting in Brussels in March this year with the outcome that this specification will now apply within 3 years. For more details read our position paper.

A few weeks earlier an inquest had been held in Hertfordshire into the deaths of two fire-fighters and the woman they were attempting to rescue. The fire was started by two tea lights placed on top of a television which burned through and set fire to the plastic casing. In this instance there was no doubt about the cause as the electricity had been disconnected to the flat before the fire. (Incidentally the European Commission had been advised by the TV industry experts that a TV would need to be operating and warm for ignition to occur in this way!) ACFSE supplied information for the Coroner and he has formally asked the British Standards Institute if fire resistant materials can be used for televisions.ACFSE will continue to press this issue. We feel it is not necessary to wait 3 years for safe TVs, models are changing every 12 months or less and there is no reason why manufacturers cannot implement improvements sooner.

For more information, please see:

http://www.acfse.org/index.php5?module=articles&section=2

Deadly Furniture Fires

Early in June a mother and her three children died in a dwelling fire in Gironde, France, when according to firefighters synthetic furniture caught fire.


The deaths of nine firefighters in Charleston USA this week, reminds us that what presents a hazard to the occupants of a dwelling when it catches fire, also when displayed or stored in quantity in a store or warehouse, presents a similar and deadly hazard to professional firefighters.


I say ‘reminds us’ because we have been here before and there is a long line of human tragedy, both civilians and firefighters, stretching over the years where fires associated with synthetic filling materials, particularly foam, has been identified as the major contributory factor in the rapid fire spread.


These fires have occurred in the factories using the materials and the shops, stores and homes containing the finished product.


In the UK controls have been introduced at each and every level and have successfully reduced the risk and hazards.


In the USA there will be some soul searching over the firefighters deaths, as there should be, and it is inappropriate to comment other than to offer deepest sympathies to the berieved families, friends and colleagues.


It is time that all involved in supplying upholstered furniture recognised and accepted that what is without doubt a life enriching product, can also in foreseeable circumstances take lives.
There will have been dwelling fires in recent days where people will have died due to the inhalation of toxic fumes from burning upholstery. They will not feature in the news like the Charleston fire, but will in all probability exceed the numbers involved.


The technology to reduce the risks, hazards and consequences of furniture fires is well known and applied by law in the UK and Ireland and some States of America. If the industries are unwilling to change, then the regulator should act.



For more information, see:
http://www.acfse.org/index.php5?module=articles&section=3