Special Report: Fire Alarm

Special Report

FIRE ALARM

Former lawyer and upholsterer Delyth Fetherston-Dilke is appealing for upholsterers to take part in a proposed exposure study into flame retardant chemicals. Concerned about the risk upholsterers face from working with fire retardant treated furniture, Delyth – a Journeyman with the Guild of Traditional Upholsterers – has already collected more than 1,000 signatures supporting her open letter to MP Paul Scully, asking for a safer alternative to achieve fire protection.

Here, Delyth talks about the planned study and sets out her case for a move to a more sustainable future, where furniture and bedding is fire resistant by design rather than by being soaked in FR chemicals.

A UK environmental sciences team is planning a new research project measuring the exposure of upholsterers in the workshop to flame retardant chemicals. The university study is at the funding application stage but knowing there are enough upholsterers willing to take part will increase the chances of success.

The intention is to assess whether there is any risk from the exposure levels detected and so assist the government in its current review of FR legislation. Chemicals, unlike medicine, are not tested on humans prior to sale, so a trial that measures human exposure would be a positive step forward.

Flame retardant chemicals are added to foam, coir, FR calico, FR cotton felt, rubberised hair and many top fabrics in the UK.

The chemicals are added to comply with the ‘open flame’ requirements of the 1988 Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations. But there is serious doubt that the use of these chemicals achieves a meaningful fire safety benefit and in a fire situation they exacerbate the smoke toxicity. Europe, for instance, does not have a residential open flame test and does not use chemicals in its top fabrics, yet its fire death statistics remain similar to the UK.

There are a host of targeted practical measures that could be taken combined with a top fabric smoulder test to improve fire safety: improved self-extinguishing cigarettes; more mains powered smoke alarms; linking smoke alarms in homes of the frail or elderly to a centralised monitoring system or neighbourhood watch; isolating foam from ignition sources in white goods and home insurance suppliers incentivising mains powered smoke alarms.

A growing body of scientific studies link flame retardant chemicals to infertility, endocrine disruption (such as thyroid problems), neurotoxicity (such as reducing IQ levels in children) and cancer.

This has already prompted the United States to change its law and replace the open flame test with a smoulder test. As the US Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association points out: “We believe the risk associated with the use of these chemicals is greater than the fire risk from furniture without flame retardants.”

The UK government has long been aware that many flame-retardant chemicals are problematic. In 2019 it released an environmental audit, ‘Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Life’, calling attention to the flame retardants. Yet the 1988 Regulations are still ‘under review’.

AMUSF members can now play their part in influencing the way forward by taking part in the proposed study – further details of which will be available in due course.

To register your interest, please contact manjeet.upple@amusf.org or admin@amusf.org