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Articles
Mattress Flammability
On average, more than 28,000 mattress fires occur annually,
killing 571 people, injuring 3,000 and causing $334 million
in property damage. For more than thirty years, the fire
hazards posed by mattresses intended for residential use
have been recognized yet poorly addressed by regulators.
Mattress and bedding fires are one of the leading causes
of fire related injuries and deaths. Fires such as these
fill our nations’ burn units, destroying thousands
of lives and families.
The Federal Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses
was enacted in 1973 to reduce the potential for ignition
of mattresses. This standard was specifically aimed at one
ignition source, cigarettes. While fires associated with
cigarettes have declined considerably, fires caused by other
open flame ignition sources, such as lighters, matches and
candles continue to cause a substantial number of injuries
and deaths. In fact, children less than 15 years of age represent
over 75% of the deaths in fires ignited by candles, matches
and lighters and incurred over one-third of the injuries
from the fires. Fires ignited by candles, matches, and lighters
were also the source of 78% of deaths to victims younger
than age 5 and responsible for two-thirds of the deaths among
5 to 14 year olds. In 1991, the proportion of all small open
flame fires actually began to exceed those caused by cigarettes
and in 1998, open flame fires accounted for 39 percent of
mattress fires.
In an effort to meet this standard enacted in 1973, the
mattress industry discovered the virtues of polyurethane
foam, which allowed mattresses to pass the cigarette burn
test. However, one indisputable fact is that the most dangerous
and destructive fuel element in a mattress fire is the polyurethane
foam, which in a conventional inner-spring mattress is highly
combustible. This foam is a mixture of several hazardous
chemicals, with some of these chemicals sharing the same
combustibility ranking as kerosene and gasoline. Once this
foam ignites, an entire bedroom can erupt in flames in mere
minutes while producing deadly cyanide gas which is a nerve
agent that disables and then kills its victim. These victims
are often unconscious and die more often from inhaling this
toxic gas than from the flames themselves.
Since the flammability standard was enacted in 1973, scientific
knowledge and technology has advanced significantly. It is
now apparent that a new flammability standard for mattresses
is technologically practical. In fact, it is estimated that
an open flame standard designed to reduce heat release and
prevent ignition of polyurethane foam could reduce the number
of victims of all ages by as many as 300 deaths and 1,460
injuries annually. An open flame standard could also reduce
as many as 60 deaths and 130 injuries to children younger
than five years of age. This reasonable and realistic technology
has been available for many years, but the industry has simply
refused to provide it to residential consumers. During the
mid-1980’s, this flame-retardant technology had advanced
to the point where it could be affordably integrated into
mattresses, thus preventing these catastrophic fires. Residential
consumers were not given the option to purchase flame-retardant
mattresses, even though technology had advanced to make such
mattresses easy to manufacture. While on the other hand,
the mattress industry began selling these flame-retardant,
now easy to manufacture mattresses to institutional purchasers.
Additionally, several test methods and standards have also
been available since the 1980’s and could have been
adopted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
to handle the necessity to decrease mattress fires caused
by open flame sources. For example, Technical Bulletin 129
(1992) and its predecessor, Technical Bulletin 121 (1980)
are both voluntary open flame test procedures for mattresses
used in public institutions such as prisons, dormitories,
health care facilities and hotels. Another example is Technical
Bulletin 117 which is a mandatory standard developed in 1980
to test all filling and stuffing materials used in upholstered
furniture for its flame retardant and smolder resistant properties.
This standard is applicable for mattresses that contain polyurethane
foam. However, mattresses can either contain flame resistant
polyurethane foam or have a permanent label stating that
the mattress contains non-flame resistant foam. There are
also test procedures and standards developed and available
through the American Society of Testing & Materials,
the National Fire Protection Association, Underwriters Laboratories,
the States of Michigan and Massachusetts, as well as international
standards in the European Committee and the United Kingdom.
In April 2000, the Consumer Product Safety Commission received
a petition for rulemaking to modify the flammability standard
for mattresses to include additional ignition sources. This
rulemaking remains open and ongoing. Even if the CPSC successfully
adopts a new standard, the expected useful life of a mattress
is 14 years, therefore, hazardous fire prone mattresses will
remain in the homes of American homes for many years to come.
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